A Hundred Anecdotes of Animals Part 8

ANECDOTE LXIV.

A Singular Foster-Mother.

On an estate in Scotland a terrier had a litter of whelps, which were immediately taken from her and drowned. The unfortunate mother was quite disconsolate, until, a few weeks after, she perceived a brood of ducklings, which she immediately seized and carried to her lair, where she retained them, following them out and in with the greatest care, and nursing them after her own fas.h.i.+on, with the most affectionate anxiety.

When the ducklings, following their natural instinct, went into the water, their foster-mother exhibited the utmost alarm; and as soon as they returned to land, she s.n.a.t.c.hed them up in her mouth, and ran home with them. What adds to the singularity of this circ.u.mstance is, that the same animal, when deprived of a litter of puppies the year preceding, seized two c.o.c.k-chickens, which she reared with the like care she bestows upon her present family. When the young c.o.c.ks began to try their voices, their foster-mother was as much annoyed as she now seems to be by the swimming of the ducklings--and never failed to repress their attempts at crowing.

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ANECDOTE LXV.

The Shepherd's Dog.

James Hogg, the shepherd poet, had a dog named Sirrah, who was for many years his sole companion. He was, the shepherd says, the best dog he ever saw, in spite of his surly manners and unprepossessing appearance. The first time he saw the dog, a drover was leading him by a rope, and, although hungry and lean, "I thought," Hogg tells us, "I discovered a sort of sullen intelligence in his face, so I gave the drover a guinea for him.

I believe there never was a guinea so well laid out. He was scarcely then a year old, and knew nothing of herding; but as soon as he discovered that it was his duty to do so, I can never forget with what eagerness he learned. He would try every way till he found out what I wanted him to do; and when once I made him to understand a direction, he never forgot or mistook it again."

About seven hundred lambs, which were at once under Mr. Hogg's care, broke up at midnight, and scampered off in three divisions across the hills, in spite of all that the shepherd and an a.s.sistant lad could do to keep them together. "Sirrah," cried the shepherd, in great affliction, "my man, they're a' awa." The night was so dark that he did not see Sirrah; but the faithful animal had heard his master's words, and without more ado he set off in quest of the flock. The shepherd and his companion spent the whole night in scouring the hills, but of neither the lambs nor Sirrah could they obtain the slightest trace. "We had nothing for it," says the shepherd, "but to return to our master, and inform him that we had lost his whole flock of lambs. On our way home, however, we discovered a body of lambs at the bottom of a deep ravine, and Sirrah standing in front of them, looking all around for some relief. We concluded that it was one of the divisions of the lambs which Sirrah had been unable to manage until he came to that commanding situation. But what was our astonishment when we discovered by degrees that not one was wanting! How he had got all the divisions collected in the dark is beyond my comprehension. I never felt so grateful to any creature below the sun as I did to my honest Sirrah that morning."

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ANECDOTE LXVI.

Foraging.

A constable once made a complaint before a bench of London magistrates against a horse for stealing hay. The complainant stated that the horse came regularly every night of its own accord, and without any attendant, to the coach-stands in St. George's, fully satisfied his appet.i.te, and then galloped away. He defied the whole of the parish officers to apprehend him; for if they attempted to go near him while he was eating, he would throw up his heels and kick at them, or run at them, and if they did not go out of the way, he would bite them. The constable therefore thought it best to represent the case to the magistrates.

_One of the Magistrates:_ "Well, Mr. Constable, if you should be annoyed again by this animal in the execution of your duty, you may apprehend him if you can, and bring him before us to answer your complaints."

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ANECDOTE LXVII.

Going to Market.

A butcher and cattle dealer had a dog which he usually took with him when he drove cattle to the market, at a town some nine miles distant from his home, to be sold, and who displayed uncommon dexterity in managing them.

At last, so convinced was the master of the sagacity, as well as the fidelity of his dog, that he made a wager that he would entrust him with a fixed number of sheep and oxen to drive alone to market. It was stipulated that no person should be within sight or hearing, who had the least control over the dog; nor was any spectator to interfere, or be within a quarter of a mile. On the day of trial, the dog proceeded with his business in the most dexterous and steady manner; and although he had frequently to drive his charge through the herds who were grazing, yet he never lost one, but conducting them into the very yard to which he was used to drive them when with his master, he significantly delivered them up to the person appointed to receive them, by barking at the door. What more particularly marked the dog's sagacity was, that when the path the herd travelled lay through a spot where others were grazing, he would run forward, stop his own drove, and then driving the others from each side of the path, collect his scattered charge and proceed. He was several times afterwards thus sent alone for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the curious or the convenience of his master, and always acquitted himself in the same adroit and intelligent manner.

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ANECDOTE LXVIII.

The Lion and his Keeper.

In a large continental menagerie there was a lion called Danco, whose cage was in want of some repairs. His keeper desired a carpenter to set about it, but when the workman came and saw the lion, he started back with terror. The keeper entered the animal's cage, and led him to the upper part of it, while the lower was refitting. He there amused himself for some time playing with the lion, and being wearied, he soon fell asleep.

The carpenter, fully relying upon the vigilance of the keeper, pursued his work with rapidity, and when he had finished, he called him to see what was done. The keeper made no answer. Having repeatedly called in vain, he began to feel alarmed at his situation, and he determined to go to the upper part of the cage, where, looking through the railing, he saw the lion and the keeper sleeping side by side. He immediately uttered a loud cry; the lion, awakened by the noise, started up and stared at the carpenter with an eye of fury, and then, placing his paw on the breast of his keeper, lay down to sleep again. At length the keeper was awakened by some of the attendants, and he did not appear in the least apprehensive on account of the situation in which he found himself, but shook the lion by the paw, and then gently conducted him to his former residence.

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ANECDOTE LXIX.

Immovable Fidelity.

A dog, between the breed of a mastiff and a bull-dog, belonging to a chimney-sweeper, laid, according to his master's orders, on a soot-bag, which he had placed inadvertently almost in the middle of a narrow back street, in a town in the south of England. A loaded cart pa.s.sing by, the driver desired the dog to move out of the way. On refusing he was scolded, then beaten, first gently, and afterwards with the smart application of the cart-whip; all to no purpose. The fellow, with an oath, threatened to drive over the dog--he did so, and the faithful animal, in endeavouring to arrest the progress of the wheel by biting it, was crushed to pieces.

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ANECDOTE LXX.

Tame Hares.

The hare is scarcely a domestic animal; yet we have an account of one who was so domesticated as to feed from the hand, lay under a chair in a common sitting-room, and appear in every other respect as easy and comfortable in its situation as a lapdog. It now and then went out into the garden, but after regaling itself with the fresh air, always returned to the house as its proper habitation. Its usual companions were a greyhound and spaniel, with whom it spent its evenings, the whole three sporting and sleeping together on the same hearth. What makes the circ.u.mstance more remarkable is, that the greyhound and spaniel were both so fond of hare-hunting, that they used often to go out coursing together, without any person accompanying them; they were like the "_sly couple_", of whose devotion to the chase an amusing instance has been already recorded.

A traveller once brought a young hare to such a degree of frolicsome familiarity, that it would run and jump about his sofa and bed; leap upon, and pat him with its fore feet; or whilst he was reading, knock the book out of his hands, as if to claim, like a fondled child, the exclusive preference of his attention.

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ANECDOTE LXXI.

A Grateful Return.