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 ANNEX 
 
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 THE CAT AND HAWK. 
 
 p. 97.
 
 SKETCHES AND ANECDOTES 
 
 0? 
 
 ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 BT 
 
 THE KEY. J. G. WOOD, M.A., F.L.S., ETC., 
 
 AUTHOR 0? THE 
 " ILLUSTRATED NATURAL HISTORY," " BEES," ETC., ETC. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARRISON WEIR. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 G. ROUTLEDGE AND CO., FARRINGDON STREET. 
 
 NEW YORK: 18, BEEKMAN STBEET. 
 1854.
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BT WOODFALL AND KINDER, 
 
 ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 DURING the progress of a former work, the "Illus- 
 trated Natural History," it was found that the very 
 numerous engravings consumed so much space, that 
 the history of each animal was necessarily reduced to 
 ' the smallest possible compass. 
 
 In order, therefore, to compensate in some degree 
 for that deficiency, a portion of those sketches and 
 anecdotes which were originally intended to have 
 been inserted in the first work, have been brought 
 together in a separate volume. 
 
 Even in these pages, which are devoted exclusively 
 to the history of animals, space has failed ; and it has 
 been found necessary to postpone several quadru- 
 peds, such as the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, 
 and many others, to another occasion. It had been 
 intended to include, at least, the whole of the mam- 
 malia in this volume ; but its limit was unexpectedly 
 reached before the " Sketches" were concluded. 
 
 MERTON COLLEGE, 
 
 April 7, 1854.
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 "AND the Lord God formed man out of the dust of 
 the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath 
 of life, and man became a living soul." This is re- 
 lated of man alone. Although all other living crea- 
 tures were also formed out of the dust of the earth, 
 and endued with the mysterious power of life, yet it 
 is told of man only, that God himself breathed into 
 his nostrils the breath of life, and that, in conse- 
 quence, man became a living soul ; that is, that in 
 the material body of man was implanted, in some 
 mysterious way, a soul emanating from Divinity itself, 
 and superior to the life-principle of the inferior ani- 
 mals, inasmuch as it partook of the eternity of its 
 divine Author. Man became a living soul, as distin- 
 guished from the beasts that perish. 
 
 Here, then, is the great difference between man and 
 beast. Man is essentially a soul, a living soul, that 
 shall be to all eternity ; whose earthly habitation, the 
 body, partakes of the nature of brute beasts in all 
 things, excepting that, whereas the bodies of brute 
 beasts, when the breath of life has departed out of 
 their nostrils, turn again to their earth, and never take 
 again the form that had seen corruption, the body of 
 man attains to such a participation in the nature of 
 its heavenly inhabitant, that when the last day shall 
 
 B
 
 2 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 end time, and eternity shall begin, it will also partake 
 in the resurrection. 
 
 We will still further pursue the revelations given to 
 us in Holy Writ. " To every beast of the earth, and to 
 every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth 
 upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every 
 green herb for meat." The spirit of life that exists 
 in living animals renders them far superior to those 
 creatures that increase and grow without possess- 
 ing life, by which, in this case, we must understand 
 the power of voluntary motion. All living animals 
 had, therefore, power given them over things inani- 
 mate ; they had their dwelling on the inanimate 
 ground, or pursued their course through the inani- 
 mate air, while eveiy green herb was subject to them. 
 Now, while power is given to all living creatures, man 
 of course included, over every green herb of the field, 
 we find that a still superior power is given to man. 
 "Let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and 
 over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over 
 all the earth, and over every creeping thing that 
 creepeth upon the earth." There must, therefore, be 
 something in man as superior to the beasts of the 
 field as their living principle is superior to that of the 
 herbs of the ground. This something is the eternal 
 soul. 
 
 Every living creature that draws the breath of life 
 has implanted in it a certain power called Instinct. 
 To instinct may be referred the impulse that causes 
 animals to seek those places where their food is most 
 abundant. The lion, for example, is led by the force 
 of his instinct to prowl over the deserts, or lie in 
 wait among the bushes, where he may strike down 
 the unwary antelope, who, in obedience to its own 
 instinct, comes thither to devour the green herbage. 
 The spotted jaguar seeks the gnarled branches of 
 large trees, and remains concealed among the varie- 
 gated foliage of its native country, while the puma 
 Ktretches its tawny length upon a branch almost
 
 INSTINCT. O 
 
 exactly similar to its fur in colour; so that each of 
 these creatures is enabled to capture other animals, 
 whose activity would certainly carry them out of their 
 enemy's reach, had not an over-ruling instinct caused 
 them to assimilate themselves with the substances 
 around, that their prey may inadvertently wander 
 near them. The huge snakes that inhabit the tro- 
 pical forests hang suspended from the branches, and 
 so closely resemble the creepers that are flung from 
 branch to branch in wild profusion, that the passing 
 stag, buffalo, or puma (if accounts may be relied upon), 
 walks unsuspectingly into the very jaws of the expec- 
 tant serpent. 
 
 Such food-procuring instincts are imitated by man, 
 especially when he endeavours to secure any living 
 animal. In imitation of the above-mentioned instinct, 
 the Chinese becomes a successful hunter of water- 
 fowl. After the surface of a sheet of water has been 
 covered with empty gourds, the water-fowl, although 
 at first alarmed, afterwards become accustomed to 
 the floating gourds, and at last actually polish their 
 beaks upon them. The hunter, then, after placing 
 a similar gourd on his head, wades gently into the 
 water, and quickly gains the very centre of the flock 
 of wild fowl. When he has approached sufficiently 
 near any particularly fine bird, he seizes it by the 
 legs, draws it under water, and fastens it to his 
 girdle, where it soon perishes without alarming its 
 companions in the least. In this, man only copies 
 the brutish instinct, and identifies himself with sur- 
 rounding objects, in order to obtain those animals 
 which, from their superior activity, would otherwise 
 make their escape. 
 
 Other animals there are which not only avoid 
 frightening their expected prey, but actually entice it 
 to them. Such is the fishing frog (Lophius piscatorius), 
 which, after concealing itself in the mud, agitates 
 certain appendages on its head, which by their motion 
 delude inexperienced fish into the idea that they can 
 
 B 2
 
 4 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 make an excellent meal of some very lively worms. 
 They therefore make an open-mouthed bolt at the sup- 
 posed worms, and are immediately engulphed in the 
 enormous jaws of the concealed Lophius. So, when, 
 according to Dr. Johnson's cynical definition, a fool 
 places himself at one end of a stick, with a worm 
 dangling from the other, he need not flatter himself 
 that he is exercising a power which does not belong to 
 the lower animals the greatest distinction being pro- 
 bably in the success. 
 
 Again, when an enthusiastic sportsman takes the 
 field on the first of September, accompanied by -all 
 his paraphernalia of dogs, guns, shot-belts, powder- 
 flasks, &c., &c., he is but exercising a power com- 
 mon to him as to one of the fishes, that of bringing 
 down a distant prey with a missile. I of course 
 allude to the chaetodon, a beautifully marked fish, 
 with a beak something like a flageolet, through which 
 it can aim a drop of water so correctly as to bring 
 down a fly with certainty at the distance of several 
 feet. 
 
 The African savage finding himself annoyed by 
 the predacious habits of the lion, or the obstinate 
 ferocity of the rhinoceros, digs a pitfall, covering the 
 surface with a treacherous layer of thin twigs and 
 tempting grass, into which the obnoxious quadruped 
 is decoyed, and on reaching the bottom impales him- 
 self on a sharp spike placed ready to receive him. 
 Yet, even here, the reasoning operations of man are 
 anticipated by the instinctive capacities of an insect. 
 The larva of the ant-lion (Myrmeleon formicarius) digs a 
 pitfall in the loose sand, into which any insect ventur- 
 ing to approach too near the edge is sure to fall, and 
 is received, not upon a sharp stake, but in the extended 
 jaws of the ravenous ant-lion at the bottom of his den, 
 who after sucking all the juices of his victim, throws 
 away the shrivelled body, and prepares himself for 
 another. 
 
 While, however, similarity of colour is used by
 
 INSTINCT. ft 
 
 many" animals as a means of procuring food, it is 
 by many others made to contribute to their preser- 
 vation, by deceiving the eyes of those who would 
 otherwise have destroyed them. The elephant, for 
 example, lives among the thorny brakes of its native 
 land, and is so similar in colour to the plants which 
 it haunts, that in spite of its huge bulk, a prac- 
 tised eye is required to discern it. We are told by 
 several authors, that a large herd of elephants can 
 inhabit a comparatively small thorn brake without 
 being seen. Again, the gigantic giraffe, whose long 
 towering neck and spotted hide would appear- to ren- 
 der it conspicuous at any distance, is frequently passed 
 by, because the hunter has mistaken it for the trunk 
 of a tree. The giraffe lives among tall, straight trees, 
 and feeds upon their lower branches. Harris remarks 
 of the first giraffe that he had ever seen wild in its 
 native land, "An object which had repeatedly attracted 
 my eye, but which I had as often persuaded myself 
 was nothing more than the branchless stump of a 
 withered tree, suddenly shifted its position, and the 
 next moment I distinctly perceived that singular form 
 of which the apparition had oft times visited my 
 slumbers, but upon whose reality I now gazed for the 
 first time." 
 
 When creatures so gigantic as the elephant and 
 giraffe can successfully conceal themselves from the 
 attacks of their enemies by living among objects 
 that resemble themselves in colour, we need not 
 wonder if smaller animals do the same. The Alpine 
 hare, for example, and the ptarmigan, find their safety 
 in the brilliant white coat which assimilates with the 
 snows of winter, while the brown coat which they 
 wear in the summer time so resembles the wastes on 
 which they live, that they are scarcely to be seen even 
 by those who know where and how to look for them, 
 while to the inexperienced eye they are altogether in- 
 visible. 
 
 This peculiar instinct is largely exemplified in the
 
 6 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 insect world. Many insects which are considered 
 as exceedingly rare, are, in fact, comparatively com- 
 mon; but on account of their colours assimilating 
 so nearly with the substances on which they live, they 
 escape the observation of the too eager entomologist. 
 Every one must have noticed how the tortoiseshell 
 butterfly always settles on bright red flowers, and is 
 constantly resting on red bricks, or on a patch of red 
 sand. The geometrical caterpillars stretch their bodies 
 from twigs of trees in such a way that they exactly 
 resemble dead broken branches. I have had hun- 
 dreds of these caterpillars in confinement, and have 
 frequently seen strangers examine the branches of 
 my insect menagerie for some time without being 
 able to see a single caterpillar. The grasshopper is 
 scarcely to be distinguished from the green herbage 
 among which it lives. The pill-beetle when alarmed 
 draws its legs up to its body, and rolls itself in the 
 dusty roads, where it lies motionless as a dusty peb- 
 ble, for which it is usually taken. Perhaps a more 
 curious example of the working of this instinct is 
 found in the volucella, a large dipterous insect, which 
 in its larval state lives in the nests of the humble 
 bees. So close is the resemblance between the volu- 
 cella and a humble-bee, that it walks unsuspected 
 into the nest, lays its eggs, and makes its escape from 
 the castle of those insects whose stings would speedily 
 end its existence, were it not protected by the simila- 
 rity of its body to those of its enemies. So the North 
 American savage paints his body until all resemblance 
 to man is almost obliterated, so that he can lie 
 unobserved while his enemies are searching for him ; 
 and so does he, imitating by his reason the instinct 
 of the volucella, clothe himself in the skin of a slaugh- 
 tered bison, and unsuspectedly deal destruction among 
 those powerful animals who, if they had not been 
 deceived by his resemblance to themselves, would 
 speedily trample him to pieces. 
 
 Although the reason of man leads him to imitate
 
 INSTINCT. 7 
 
 the instincts of these animals, yet there is one great 
 difference between his imitation and their instinct. 
 Man does so with the intention of producing a 
 certain effect, while the animals whom he imitates 
 only obey a powerful desire implanted in themselves 
 which they cannot resist or change. The boa, for 
 example, would never learn to attack its prey as does 
 the lophius ; nor would the ant-lion learn to hide upon 
 branches like the puma. Indeed, in many cases, we 
 are warranted in supposing that animals obey their 
 instinct unconscious of its effect. It is not likely that 
 the lophius has the least idea that small fish are fond 
 of worms, or that the appendages on its head, which 
 it has never seen, bear any resemblance to worms, or 
 are intended to decoy its prey. It only obeys the im- 
 pulse of that instinct which leads it to act in the 
 manner which has been already related, without at 
 all referring the effect to the cause. Neither do we 
 suppose that the volucella knows that its body bears 
 any resemblance to that of the humble-bee ; in all 
 likelihood it is not even aware that it runs any risk in 
 its invasion of the humble-bees' nest. It only yields 
 to the overpowering instinct which leads it to enter 
 the nest, and there to deposit its eggs. Nor has it 
 any knowledge of the fact that when hatched, those 
 eggs will become larva?, who will find themselves at 
 once amid their proper food. So, when the eider 
 duck tears the down from her body, and lines her 
 nest with it, we need not think that she does so from 
 any foresight respecting the future wants of her off- 
 spring, but only because her natural instinct teaches 
 her so to do. 
 
 Man, however, in imitating these instincts, does 
 so with a definite purpose, and aiming at a definite 
 end. Does he wade, concealing his head in a 
 hollow gourd, while his body is submerged under 
 the water, or does he wrap himself in the hide of a 
 bison, it is, in the one case, to obtain possession of 
 those creatures whose superior activity would other-
 
 O ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 wise carry them out of his reach, or to destroy with 
 impunity those animals Avhose bodily powers are far 
 superior to his own. When an angler visits the waters, 
 armed with his rod and line, he does so because he 
 has noticed that fish are attracted by worms ; and he, 
 therefore, conceals in his worm an instrument calcu- 
 lated to retain the fish. When the sportsman levels 
 his gun at a bird, he does so in the knowledge that 
 certain substances which he has placed in his gun 
 will so operate, that part of them will be driven with 
 sufficient violence against the bird to maim it, and 
 bring it within his reach. Now, the chsetodon, pro- 
 bably, knows not that the drop of water held within 
 its jaws can so operate upon a fly as to destroy its 
 powers of flight, and cause it to fall into the water ; 
 nor does it by practice obtain its powers of striking 
 the object aimed at. The first fly ever shot at was 
 struck with as great certainty as the last ; it could not 
 miss without acting against its instinct ; while the 
 human marksman requires much practice to enable 
 him to strike the object at which he aims. 
 
 In the same way the ant-lion digs its pitfall, not 
 because it has any ultimate idea of ensnaring prey, 
 but because the instinct existing within it forces 
 it to do so. But when the man digs a pitfall, he does 
 so in opposition to his instinct, which rather teaches 
 him to lie on his back and do nothing at all. He digs 
 the earth, removes the mould taken from the pit, lest 
 the sharp eyes of his expected prey should see it ; he 
 spreads branches over the mouth of the pit, which he 
 knows will not sustain the weight of the animal whom 
 he afterwards decoys to the spot ; and, lastly, plants a 
 sharpened stake at the bottom, which he knows will 
 pierce his prey when it has been captured, and there- 
 by enable him to remove it with safety. 
 
 Again, the beaver is well known to construct dams 
 across rivers, by which the course of the stream is 
 retarded, and a sufficient depth of water obtained for 
 its purposes. Yet we cannot think that the beaver
 
 INSTINCT. 9 
 
 acts thus from any foreknowledge of the effect that 
 will be produced by this act, because it is found that, 
 when beavers are in captivity, they are constantly 
 building dams with any material that they can find, 
 and appear perfectly satisfied with their labours, even 
 where there is no water at all. A beaver kept in a room 
 was in the habit of collecting the hearth-brush, fire- 
 irons, footstools, &c., and with them erecting a barri- 
 cade across the corner of the room, within which he sat, 
 apparently as fully convinced of the importance of his 
 work as the Parisian insurgents were of their stronger 
 barricades. 
 
 Each animal, then, obeys its own instinct, without 
 taking up that of another, while 'man is able to take 
 advantage of the instinct of any creature placed in 
 subjection to him, and to use it for his own purposes. 
 Not that man is without instinct; it is instinct which 
 induces the new-born child to seek its mother's breast, 
 or which teaches it to cry when it feels uneasiness. 
 In farther advanced life, although reason has gained 
 the dominion, instinct still holds a partial and salutary 
 sway. There are times when instinct acts as a pre- 
 servative, where reason would be useless. Among 
 such instances may be noticed the rapid closing of 
 the eyes when menaced by any danger, or the sudden 
 effort made by one who slips over a precipice. In 
 the latter case, it has more than once been recorded, 
 that the adventurer has found himself lying safely on 
 the summit of the precipice, without the slightest recol- 
 lection of the manner in which he got there, thereby 
 showing that the instinctive force had acted, while the 
 rational powers were, for the time, in abeyance. While, 
 then, both man and beasts possess instinct, one great 
 difference between them lies in this, that beasts impli- 
 citly obey, and are entirely ruled, by their instinct, while 
 man has made his instinct subservient to his reason. 
 Now, while we allow that man is endowed with in- 
 stinct, we must not deny that beasts possess some 
 share of reason. It is but a small share, confined in
 
 10 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 its limits, and abbreviated in extent, but it is yet 
 reason. 
 
 As this volume is not intended to be a treatise on 
 metaphysics, but is merely written to exhibit the in- 
 stinctive and reasoning powers of animals, I shall not 
 now discuss the difficult and complex question of the 
 effect of the soul upon reason, but will merely observe 
 that the preceding remarks maybe summed up in the 
 following brief manner : 
 
 All living creatures possess instinct. 
 
 Some also possess a share of reason. 
 
 Man possesses instinct, reason, and a soul. 
 
 The reasoning powers are particularly exemplified 
 in the cases of domesticated animals, who learn, by 
 their reason, to overcome their instinct. The natural 
 instinct of a cat or dog when left alone in a room 
 where provisions are laid on the table, is to satisfy 
 their hunger by eating the food that lies before 
 them, but their reasoning powers tell them that if 
 they do so their master will certainly punish them : 
 they, therefore, by the exercise of their reason, sub- 
 due their instinct. The same may be said of every 
 case where animals diverge from the general rules, 
 and alter their plan of operation to suit circumstances. 
 All birds, when they build their nests, build them 
 according to a plan which rules in each species, so that 
 any one acquainted with practical ornithology, will, at 
 once, on being shown a nest, not only tell the name of 
 the bird that built it, but can also name the locality 
 where it was found. As long as the bird follows the 
 general plan, it works by instinct, but if it departs 
 from that plan, then it may be said to work by reason. 
 
 Again, we are told by credible observers, that when 
 an Egyptian dog wishes to drink at the Nile, he goes 
 some way up the river, and howls for some time. The 
 crocodiles, being attracted by the sound, immediately 
 crowd to the place, while the dog hastily runs to the 
 part which the crocodiles have left, and drinks in 
 safety. Precisely the same account is given of the
 
 INSTINCT. 1 1 
 
 Indian dogs, who resort to the same ruse when they 
 wish to cross the rivers. Now, if a dog always howled 
 before it drank, or before it took to the water, we should 
 say that it was acting under the influence of instinct ; 
 but we knoAv that English dogs do not hesitate to 
 drink at the river side, or to plunge into them without 
 the preliminary of howling. We must, therefore, 
 allow that the Egyptian and Indian dogs act from the 
 impulse of reason, not of instinct. 
 
 There have been many works professing to treat 
 of the " instincts " of animals, but, in almost even- 
 case, the title is a wrong one. The strictly scien- 
 tific naturalist is the man who really studies the 
 instincts exhibited by animals, while the general 
 observer usually remarks the reason exhibited by 
 various creatures. Such works, therefore, should be 
 entitled " reason " of animals rather than " instinct." 
 Few but naturalists care about the instincts of living 
 creatures, but every one is interested by the manner 
 in which animals reason. This work is intended 
 not for the scientific naturalist, but for those who, al- 
 though they may not be enabled to tell the scientific 
 name of an animal, and are content to use the 
 common names of hedgehog or cockatoo in pre- 
 ference to " Erinaceus Europseus," or " Plyctolophus 
 galeritus," yet are interested in the wonderful works 
 of that God who made these creatures as well as them- 
 selves, and whose superior mental powers can receive 
 gratification from contemplating the implanted in- 
 stincts and reason of those creatures placed hi subjec- 
 tion under them. 
 
 There is also another object. The mind of man 
 is always endeavouring to attain greater and more 
 perfect knowledge of things invisible. Now, if we 
 examine the plans of a building, and see the work- 
 ing of the whole from the time that the founda- 
 tion stone was laid to the time when the last blow is 
 struck, we attain to some idea of the working of the
 
 12 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 mind of the architect who built it. Again, supposing 
 that we had before us a painting by some mighty 
 master, our admiration of it is much increased if we 
 also have presented to us the first rude sketches on 
 which he built the perfect master-piece. We see how 
 one idea is earned out and improved upon, and how 
 another is rejected as unsuitable to the unity of the 
 piece ; so that we, as it were, follow the progress of 
 the artist's mind through the medium of his works. 
 So, if we lay before us the works of God, if we con- 
 template the vast edifice reared by the Great Architect 
 of the Universe, we see how every part of it was 
 placed in just and due order, until the building was 
 completed, by man its copestone. And again, if we 
 desire fully to understand the nature that is, the 
 physical nature of man, we must first study the 
 structure, instincts, and habits of the lower parts of 
 creation, which are thus to us, as it were, the sketches 
 leading to the completion of the great work itself. 
 Thus by following the works of the Almighty through 
 their several stages, we are enabled to gain one more 
 step towards the knowledge of God himself. 
 
 With regard to the arrangement of the following 
 anecdotes, I have found great difficulty. My first idea 
 was to class them according to the principle developed 
 in them. For example, if that plan had been carried 
 out, every instance of love for young would have 
 been placed together. The difficulty of reference to 
 any particular animal was so great an objection to this 
 arrangement, that it was rejected. At last, I have 
 determined, that as these anecdotes were intended as 
 a companion to the " Illustrated Natural History," 
 the order of that work should be followed, not, 
 perhaps, literally, but, at all events, in the greater 
 divisions. I have, therefore, commenced with the 
 monkey tribe, in defiance of the popular opinion, 
 which appears to demand the lion as the only animal 
 fit to head a Natural History. The monkeys, however,
 
 MONKEYS. 13 
 
 occupy the first place in the British Museum, and, 
 therefore, may here take precedence of the lion. 
 
 MONKEYS. 
 
 OF all the inferior animals, the monkey tribe ap- 
 proach nearest to the structure of man. Yet this 
 apparent resemblance is mostly in externals, and 
 lessens as we examine into the anatomy of the crea- 
 ture. Our general idea of a monkey is that of an 
 animal sitting or walking upright, and capable of using 
 its hands with as much dexterity as ourselves. This 
 idea is prevalent because so few have seen monkeys in 
 their native state ; those whose acquaintance we make 
 being generally instructed to behave in a much more 
 precise manner than is adopted by their relations in 
 their native woods. The erect posture is not at all 
 characteristic of monkeys, for when upon level ground, 
 they always walk upon their hands and feet at the 
 same time, and seldom assume the erect attitude, un- 
 less they support themselves by their hands. Any 
 one may see this by paying a visit to the spacious 
 cage at the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens, where 
 they will see that the monkeys scarcely ever assume 
 the erect posture, unless they are clinging to the 
 branches, or to the sides of their cage. The structure of 
 the skeleton is such that the erect posture can only 
 be maintained with considerable effort. The head, 
 too, is set on the neck in quite a different manner from 
 the human head. The head of the monkey is, like 
 that of the quadrupeds, set on very far back, forcing 
 nearly the whole of the face forward and downward. 
 
 The monkeys possess a very large share of sagacity, 
 and have the power of acting in concert with each 
 other to an extent that renders them very dangerous 
 as bodies, although compai'atively insignificant as indi- 
 viduals. They make regularly-organised descents upon 
 orchards and other cultivated grounds, and contrive
 
 14 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 to do an incredible amount of mischief in a very short 
 time. It is said that they will silently strip the trees 
 of their fruit, and convey their ill-gotten spoils into 
 their own domains by passing it from hand to hand 
 along the line of monkeys, which have arranged them- 
 selves at regular distances from the forest to the or- 
 chard. This, however, is scarcely authenticated enough 
 to be admitted without further proof. 
 
 They seem devoted to mischief, and apparently 
 undertake a mischievous task purely from a love of 
 mischief itself without the hope of gaining anything, 
 and frequently even when they are perfectly certain of 
 being punished for it. My readers will doubtless re- 
 member the exploits of that monkey whose numerous 
 tricks are related by Basil Hall in his Fragments. 
 The cunning animal would wait at the hatchway with 
 a handspike in his hands until he heard some one 
 mounting the steps, when he would let the handspike 
 drop clattering down the ladder, and immediately take 
 to his heels. The aggrieved party below, on finding 
 his shins considerably scarified by the falling hand- 
 spike, naturally enough vowed vengeance against 
 Jacko, who would sit in the rigging alternately 
 screaming with delight at his successful bit of mis- 
 chief, and chattering with fear at the punishment 
 which he knew would inevitably follow. 
 
 These tricks he would constantly play until even the 
 forbearance of the sailors would be exhausted, and 
 Jacko was submitted to court-martial, tried, and con- 
 demned to suffer certain lashes. This he resented 
 greatly, and on more than one occasion bit several of the 
 sailors rather severely. The captain accordingly issued 
 his mandate that the monkey should be thrown over- 
 board, but the sailors, unwilling to lose their favourite, 
 consulted with the assistant surgeon, who by depriv- 
 ing the monkey of his sharp teeth, rendered him quite 
 harmless. Indeed, it would have gone to the sailors' 
 hearts to lose him, as he was instructed to play most 
 of his tricks on the marines, between which body of
 
 THE MONKEY AND XHE NUTS. 
 
 p. 15.
 
 MONKEYS. 17 
 
 cies. Suddenly he failed to procure his usual sup- 
 plies, and saw, with great indignation, that most of 
 the visitors, particularly the ladies, had turned their 
 attentions to the next cage. This, of course, excited 
 his jealousy and curiosity, and he exercised all his 
 endeavours to discover the cause of his desertion. At 
 length, by dint of great perseverance, he contrived to 
 poke out a knot in the board which divided their par- 
 titions, and, on looking through, discovered that the 
 inhabitant of the adjoining tenement had lately been 
 blessed with a baby. That unfortunate baby-monkey 
 instantly became the object of his unremitting perse- 
 cution. He watched it through his knot hole; he put 
 his hand round the corner, and tried to pinch the poor 
 little animal; he picked the keeper's pocket of the 
 food that ought to have gone to the rival; and, in 
 fact, spent his time in devising new annoyances. The 
 mother all this time was perfectly acquainted with the 
 evil designs of her neighbour, and carefully kept her 
 baby away from the dangerous comer where the mon- 
 key's hand was continually intruding itself. In a short 
 time the little one was suffered to go about by itself, 
 and its untiring enemy redoubled his exertions. 
 
 At last his time of revenge arrived. One day he was 
 observed to pay more attention than usual to his peep- 
 hole, and after long and patient watching, he was seen 
 to commence that peculiar vibrating movement which 
 generally prefaces a monkey's mischief. Suddenly his 
 eye was withdrawn from the knot-hole, his hand thrust 
 through like lightning, and withdrawn, bringing with 
 it the tail of the unfortunate little monkey on the 
 other side of the partition. He fixed his feet firmly 
 on each side of the knot-hole, and tugged away at his 
 rival's tail, alternately screaming with delight, and 
 chattering with fear at the punishment which he well 
 knew would follow. The poor baby-monkey, on being 
 assaulted in such an unexpected manner, set up a 
 most heart-rending outcry, on hearing which, its mo- 
 ther flew to its assistance, and seeing her offspring
 
 18 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 apparently fastened to the wall, seized it by its arms, 
 and pulled with all her might in order to release it. 
 The aggressor chattered, the mother remonstrated, 
 and the baby screamed, until the outcry drew the at- 
 tention of a keeper, at whose approach the aggressor 
 loosed his hold of his victim's tail, and crouched into 
 the farthest corner of his cage, where he displayed 
 exceeding ingenuity in avoiding the cuts of the keeper's 
 whip. 
 
 It was fair time at Oxford, and Wombwell's was, of 
 course, a great attraction, and the monkeys, as usual, 
 were much appreciated by the visitors. Among the 
 spectators was a boy of about twelve or thirteen, who 
 had deemed it necessary to pay due honour to the 
 fair by appearing in a new cap. He, among others, 
 had been attracted by the ludicrous antics of a cage 
 full of monkeys, and in his delight at their wit and 
 activity he approached too near the wires. Instantly 
 the ready hand of a monkey seized his much-prized 
 cap, dragged it through the bars, and held it in 
 triumph for the inspection of the other inhabitants of 
 the cage. The keeper immediately came to the rescue, 
 but the monkey, who appeared to be perfectly ac- 
 quainted with the length of the keeper's whip and 
 arm, retreated to the further corner of the cage, 
 twisted the crown of the cap up like a rope, bit a 
 great circular piece out, and flung it at the former 
 owner. This process was continued until he had 
 disposed of the entire cap, with the exception of the 
 leather shade. This made him very angry, and he 
 danced about the cage in great indignation, biting 
 and tearing at it without the slightest effect. At last 
 he seemed to consider it a hopeless business, and 
 consoled himself with using it as a missile against 
 the spectators who were watching his proceedings. 
 
 It is very amusing to give a monkey something 
 which he does not quite understand. The air of 
 supreme wisdom and indifference, with which he at 
 first views it, soon yields to the spirit of curiosity so
 
 MONKEYS. 19 
 
 deeply seated in monkeys as well as in men ; and he 
 examines it with cautious fear; but soon either de- 
 clines meddling with it altogether, or else despises it 
 as a weak invention of the enemy. There are always 
 some monkeys kept in the Botanical Gardens at Ox- 
 ford, and these creatures afford a never-failing fund of 
 amusement to those who walk in the gardens. Every 
 one goes to look at the monkeys ; some tease them 
 by poking them with sticks, pelting them with small 
 stones, or, what seems to irritate them more than any- 
 thing else, by grinning at them an art which some 
 of the undergraduates possess in great perfection. 
 The monkeys are particularly fond of the leaves that 
 are blown within their reach, and appreciate them 
 almost as much as they do orange-peel. 
 
 A few days before these lines were written, a great 
 humble-bee that had maimed itself was pushed into the 
 monkeys' cage. Of course it set up a tremendous buz- 
 zing, which immediately drew the attention of the mon- 
 keys. They were evidently completely upset by the 
 entrance of such an unwonted intruder. Banquo's 
 ghost himself could not have caused more dismay 
 than did the great humble-bee among the monkeys. 
 They approached it with great care, always dashing 
 up the sides of the cage at every fresh ebullition of 
 the humble-bee, and looking down at it with intense 
 horror. At last one of them, after considering the 
 matter, picked up a piece of paper that, among other 
 objects, had been inserted into their cage, and with a 
 dexterity that a grocer might have envied, twisted it 
 up into a sugar-loaf form. He then approached the 
 humble-bee, which was lying on its back, spinning 
 round and round, and making an extraordinary hub- 
 bub, swept it into the paper receptacle, twisted it up 
 with astonishing rapidity, and patted and rolled it 
 about until the hums of the enclosed bee were most 
 effectually stopped by being mashed into a pulp. 
 When this end had been attained, the monkey took 
 
 c 2
 
 20 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 up the paper containing the triturated bee, and flung 
 it through the railings with all its strength. 
 
 The same monkeys were also particularly perplexed 
 by a snail that had made its way into their cage. 
 They seldom ventured to put their fingers near it, 
 but when it began to crawl, and waved its head and 
 horns in the air, the temptation was irresistible ; arid 
 they accordingly just pushed it with the tips of their 
 fingers. On feeling the cold slimy surface of the 
 snail, and seeing it retreat within its shell, they looked 
 with the most ludicrous dismay, first at the ends of 
 their fingers, and then at the retreating snail. 
 
 A monkey is a sufficiently amusing animal to keep, 
 but not at all a safe one, for, if it should chance to 
 gain its liberty, nothing can be considered safe from 
 its attacks. Even when safely confined in a cage it 
 will continue to perpetrate sundry mischievous acts. 
 I once saw the keeper at the Zoological Gardens 
 feeding the monkeys with slices of turnip and carrot. 
 After he had fed one set of monkeys, he turned round 
 to feed the others. Scarcely had he moved, when a 
 paw was protruded from one of the cages, and busily 
 occupied in ransacking the keeper's pockets. How- 
 ever, the keeper was accustomed to such tricks, and 
 had placed in his pocket, entire turnips and carrots, 
 which the monkey could not draw between the bars. 
 The smaller monkeys are particularly fond of insects, 
 especially beetles, and will devour large quantities of 
 them. Let no entomologist venture to keep a monkey, 
 but take warning by a disastrous affair that took place 
 in the museum of an enthusiastic naturalist. 
 
 He had been for some time amassing the insect pro- 
 ductions of the countiy, and had brought together a 
 large collection of insects, particularly beetles. One 
 day he left open a valuable work containing coloured 
 figures of beetles, by which he had been making out 
 the species. A small monkey which he had in confine- 
 ment escaped from its prison, and in course of its
 
 MONKEYS. 21 
 
 peregrinations, in which it indulged in regaining its 
 liberty, unfortunately entered the room where the 
 beetles were kept. Of course such a prize was not 
 to be withstood. There were two opportunities pre- 
 sented to it here, each of them attractive to a monkey, 
 but Avhen conjoined perfectly irresistible. First, there 
 was a splendid chance of doing considerable mischief, 
 and secondly, there were several hundred beetles lying 
 helpless before it. So the monkey immediately com- 
 menced operations. When the naturalist re-entered 
 his room, his horror was very great to find that the 
 monkey had pinched out all the figures of beetles 
 from the book and eaten them, paying a compli- 
 ment to the draughtsman not inferior to that which 
 the birds paid to the painted grapes of Zeuxis. 
 
 This was not the worst of the misfortune, for the little 
 insatiable animal had also eaten all the impaled beetles 
 in the boxes. The irate entomologist immediately 
 went in search of the robber, fulminating all kinds of 
 threats against tbe ruthless destroyer of his museum, 
 hut his anger was soon changed into pity on seeing 
 the miserable state of the poor monkey. The unfor- 
 tunate animal in robbing the cabinet had been in 
 such haste, for fear of detection, that with the beetles 
 he had also swallowed all the pins on which they 
 were impaled. Of course, no powers of digestion 
 could overcome such a dinner as this, and the poor 
 creature died next day in great agonies, a victim to 
 natural history. 
 
 There is always a deadly feud between the parrots 
 and monkeys in their native lands, the subject of dis- 
 pute being the parrots' tails. In general, monkeys 
 appear to have a great objection to a tail being worn 
 by any one but themselves, and never lose an oppor- 
 tunity of giving the tail of a companion a sly pull. 
 The curly tail of a pig always appeared to excite 
 great indignation in the mind of one monkey, who 
 lived on board the same vessel with it. As the pig 
 ran about the deck, the monkey, immediately taking
 
 22 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 umbrage at the pig venturing to wear a curly tail con- 
 trary to the fashion of his own, which was straight, 
 used to run after him, and hold on by the pig's tail, 
 tugging at it with all his might to drag it straight in 
 uniformity with his own. Were we Pythagoreans, we 
 should pronounce that the soul of Paul of Kussia had 
 transmigrated into the monkey. 
 
 The monkeys pull the parrots' tails for a very dif- 
 ferent purpose. They like to suck the soft juicy end 
 of the quills, and are in consequence always stealing 
 after the unfortunate parrots. Even in captivity they 
 retain the same eager desire for parrots' tails, and if a 
 monkey and parrot are in the same room the monkey 
 is constantly hovering round the cage watching his 
 opportunity to thrust his paw through the wires and 
 take a pull at the feathers. The parrot exhibits her 
 sagacity by keeping her face always towards the 
 monkey, and making a peck with her sharp bill at his 
 outstretched hand, so that at a short distance the 
 parrot appears to be continually bowing to the monkey 
 with the greatest and most formal politeness. 
 
 Mr. Bennett, in his "Wanderings," gives a very 
 interesting account of a monkey which lived on board 
 with him. It sti-uck up a great friendship for a little 
 Papuan girl, and would share its biscuit with her in 
 the most loving way. Among its peculiarities it had 
 a great hankering for a piece of soap possessed by 
 Mr. Bennett, and would constantly endeavour to steal 
 it when he was not watching it. On one occasion he 
 pretended not to see it, and permitted the monkey to 
 take the soap, and walk half across the cabin with its 
 prize. On speaking to it the monkey went back and 
 quietly replaced the soap where it had found it. This 
 monkey was a Siamang, and probably inherited the 
 wish for soap from his parents, for the Siamangs are 
 very careful of the cleanliness of their children, and 
 wash them with great assiduity. 
 
 It is related of a monkey who lived on board ship 
 where there were also some pigs, that he was the
 
 MONKEYS. 23 
 
 plague of their life. No sooner did a pig venture to 
 take a walk than the monkey slid down some rope, 
 and mounting on his back, forced his unwilling steed 
 to carry him ahout the deck. A stranger steed than 
 this was used by the monkeys at the Zoological 
 Gardens, who pressed into their service an armadillo, 
 who lived in a burrow at the bottom of the monkey- 
 cage, and who never ventured out of his hole with- 
 out having to carry one or more monkeys across the 
 yard. 
 
 The same strange fellowship took place in one 
 of Wombwell's caravans. In the same cage were 
 eight or ten monkeys of various sizes, an armadillo, 
 and a hedgehog. The latter animal was, on account 
 of his spikes, evidently considered by the monkeys as 
 an unpleasant companion who must be let alone, but 
 the armadillo spent quite a different life. Its usual 
 place of rest was in a corner, but no sooner had it 
 settled itself quietly for a nap, than the largest mon- 
 key came gravely and seated himself on the arma- 
 dillo's back, and surveyed the scene with a most 
 solemn and self-satisfied air. Presently another mon- 
 key came and took a seat by the first, and then 
 a third added himself to the load, until in a very 
 short time the unfortunate armadillo was quite hidden 
 under a pile of monkeys. Not that it seemed to 
 trouble itself much about its riders, for it trotted about 
 with the greatest unconcern, evidently caring little 
 whether a monkey were sitting on its back or not. 
 
 The desire for equitation seems to be naturally im- 
 planted in the monkey mind. Not long ago, a gentle- 
 man who rather prided himself on a very fine stud of 
 hunters, found that the horses did not appear properly 
 refreshed by their nightly rest. One of the grooms, 
 on being desired to keep a strict watch, discovered that 
 a tame monkey belonging to the house was accus- 
 tomed to ride on the horses' backs almost all night, 
 preventing them from taking sufficient rest. His 
 master, on discovering his penchant for riding, and
 
 24 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 l>eing averse to killing the monkey on account of his 
 horsemanship, succeeded in curing him effectually of 
 his love for horses. The next time that the hounds met, 
 he had the monkey put into a full hunting suit and 
 secured by a strap to the saddle of his most spirited 
 hunter, and took him away to the meet. When the 
 fox was found the horse pricked up his ears at the 
 well-known sound, and started off at once. The 
 chase happened to be a particularly long and severe 
 one, the monkey of course from his light weight being 
 far ahead of the legitimate huntsmen. A country- 
 man, who was coming from the direction which the 
 fox had taken, was interrogated by some of the sports- 
 men who had been thrown out as to the position of 
 the hunt, and told them that the fox was looking tired, 
 but that none of the huntsmen was near, except a 
 little gentleman in a yellow jacket, who took his leaps 
 beautifully. Sure enough, Master Jacko was in at 
 the death, But did not by any means appreciate the 
 honour. After the fox had been killed, there was a 
 long ride home again, by the end of which time the 
 monkey seemed thoroughly wearied out. After the 
 experience that he had of a day's hunting he was 
 never known to mount a horse again. 
 
 A pony of my acquaintance was celebrated for his 
 talent at throwing every one who tried to mount him, 
 his principal manoeuvre being a rapid twist to his 
 right as he descended from a rear, and then a 
 sudden jump to the left directly his feet touched 
 the ground. I never saw him beaten except on two 
 occasions. On one occasion his rider was a monkey, 
 who stuck so firmly with all his four hands to the 
 saddle that the pony could not even shake him; and 
 the rider on the second occasion was a very long- 
 legged butcher's lad, who contrived to hitch his feet 
 together under the pony's belly, and by squeezing 
 him whenever he attempted to rear completely mas- 
 tered him. 
 
 It is rather remarkable that there are very few
 
 THS UONKKY CURED OF HIDING. p. 24.
 
 MONKEYS. 25 
 
 animals who will live together without quarrelling. 
 I do not allude to animals of different species, as 
 they could hardly be expected to be in constant con- 
 tact with each other without some disagreements. 
 Of course the " happy (?) families " exhibited in various 
 parts of London are exceptions to this rule, but they 
 are only examples of the success of the training em- 
 ployed in forcing animals so incongruous to live in 
 the same cage in perfect harmony. The cats and 
 owls, for example, sit and doze away the hours, per- 
 fectly heedless of their natural prey the rats, mice, 
 and small birds, which not only run or hop about 
 devoid of all fear, but actually on a cold day may be 
 seen nestling in the warm fur of the cat, or the soft 
 feathers of the owl. 
 
 Animals, however, belonging to the same species, 
 nearly always quarrel when in captivity, at all events 
 until the question of supremacy is completely settled. 
 Such being the case, it can hardly be expected that 
 monkeys should be exempt from the rule. When- 
 ever a number of monkeys are confined in one place, 
 even though it be a large and spacious apartment, 
 there is a constant bullying going on which forcibly 
 reminds one of Oriental governments. The biggest 
 monkey beats, bites, or robs the second biggest mon- 
 key. He revenges himself by beating, biting, and 
 robbing monkey number three, who in his turn solaces 
 himself by bullying number four, and so on down to 
 the smallest and weakest monkey, who is so harassed 
 by all the others, that if any one monkey makes a 
 demonstration at any other monkey, it scuds up the 
 side of the cage, and squeezes itself into a corner, 
 squeaking piteously in anticipation of future suffer- 
 ing*. 
 
 There was a significant phrase in very general use 
 some time ago. Crouched into the very smallest 
 space into which a human being could be supposed 
 to be compressed, and striving to hide his counte- 
 nance behind two dictionaries and a gradus placed
 
 26 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 fortress-wise at the top of his desk, sits a hoy endea- 
 vouring to eat an apple during those " graver hours 
 that bring constraint." As well might the Chinese 
 trust to their pasteboard armour against the Euro- 
 pean musket ball, as the unfortunate boy endeavour 
 to shield his delinquencies from the fire of the mas- 
 ter's eye behind his paper fortification. The very 
 presence of the battlements proves that there is an 
 enemy to be guarded against ; so, by a brisk flanking 
 movement, he sweeps the glacis, i. e. the desk, and 
 intercepts the enemy in the very act of foraging on 
 forbidden ground. So he immediately issues a sum- 
 mons : "Appelquit, come here," and as the poor 
 boy obeys the summons, he adds in a very deliberate 
 tone, and with a nod at every second word, " I have 
 a crow to pluck with you." And the crow is accord- 
 ingly plucked ; an operation, which, if we may judge 
 from the .demeanour of the culprit, who is sup- 
 posed to assist in the crow-plucking, is of a nature 
 anything but agreeable, and has the effect of causing 
 him to choose a seat with great circumspection when 
 it is completed. 
 
 Now, from whence did this phrase " plucking a crow " 
 originate? Surely from the conduct of a monkey. 
 The animal in question was accustomed to reside at 
 the end of a chain, whose other extremity was at- 
 tached to an iron ring passing round a tall pole, up 
 and down which it easily played, so that the monkey 
 might amuse himself by climbing up arid down the 
 pole. Of course there was at the summit of the pole 
 what sailors call a " truck," i. e. a cheese-shaped piece 
 of wood, which prevented the monkey from drawing 
 the ring over the top of the pole ; and on this 
 truck, the monkey usually sat. His daily food Avas 
 always supplied in a pan placed near the foot of the 
 pole. A colony of crows soon discovered the con- 
 stant supply of food, and as they could fly faster than 
 the rightful owner could slide down the pole, they 
 generally carried off the greater part of the provisions
 
 MONKEYS. 27 
 
 before he reached the pan. This state of things con- 
 tinued for some time, until, at last, the poor monkey 
 became quite desperate ; and, after long deliberation, 
 hit upon a plan for keeping his dinner to himself. 
 
 One day, the pan was put down as usual, and the crows 
 as usual commenced an attack. The monkey there- 
 upon began to slide down the pole by slow degrees, as 
 if he were very ill. When he reached the ground, he 
 commenced rolling about as if in great agony, taking 
 great care to get nearer to the pan at each struggle. 
 When, at last, he succeeded in reaching it, he lay 
 down as if he were completely worn out. By this 
 time, only one solitary morsel was left in the dish, 
 round which the crows were circling, partly in fear, 
 partly in hope. Emboldened by the quiet demeanour 
 of the monkey, one crow, more daring or more hun- 
 gry than the rest, made a bold dash at the plate. 
 Scarcely had its beak reached the coveted prize, when 
 the arm of the monkey was stretched out with a 
 swiftness that the^bird had by no means calculated on, 
 the crow 'seized by the neck, and the monkey com- 
 pletely restored to health. Still grasping the crow 
 by the neck, its captor deliberately ascended the pole, 
 and took his accustomed seat. Placing the offending 
 bird between his knees, and chattering defiance at 
 his winged foes, whose notes of exultation were now 
 changed to screams of terror, he slowly and carefully 
 plucked the bird, feather by feather, until it was en- 
 tirely stripped. After grinning and chattering at the 
 unfortunate bird for a few minutes longer, he flung 
 it high into the air among its screaming comrades. 
 Of course, the denuded crow fell to the ground with 
 a violence that immediately put an end to the small 
 amount of vitality that had survived the plucking pro- 
 cess. Ever after this incident, the monkey was per- 
 mitted to enjoy his dinner in peace and quietness. 
 
 Non-zoological parents have often confessed 
 themselves unable to distinguish between their mis- 
 chievous offspring and the monkey tribe. Perhaps
 
 28- ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 their perplexities might be increased if they knew 
 how similar the rule of a large school is to that of a 
 large monkey cage. In each there is one tyrant who 
 bullies even-body, and one weakling who is bullied 
 by even-body. In each, the members are always on 
 the look-out to play each other practical jokes, and it 
 is impossible to say whether monkeys or schoolboys 
 rejoice most at the success of a joke played at the 
 expense of some one else. Then both monkeys and 
 schoolboys have an unlimited capacity for apples, 
 nuts, cakes, and other irregular articles of food, while 
 if a little one gets an apple, a big one takes it away, 
 whether boy or monkey. Moreover, both boys and 
 monkeys display the same semi-contemptuous fear of 
 their master, and while exhibiting the demurest of 
 deportments while his eye is upon them, never neglect 
 an opportunity of taking a sly grin when his back is 
 turned. Sometimes one of the monkeys takes a parti- 
 cular spite against another, and is constantly perse- 
 cuting it on grounds quite as trifling as the causes of 
 offence given by the ^Esopian lamb to the wolf. I 
 lately saw a rather amusing example of a persecuting 
 monkey receiving his deserts. 
 
 The monkey in question had a great objection to 
 another in the same cage of course a smaller one 
 and was always looking out for some pretext to worry 
 it. Soon the small monkey, being enticed by a piece of 
 apple, ventured within arm's length of its persecutor, 
 who instantly plunged at it, tumbled it on the ground, 
 and bit it in the neck. It then grasped the poor little 
 creature's tail, and ran up to the roof of the cage, 
 when it transferred the end of the victim's tail to its 
 mouth, and swung it backwards and forwards, of 
 course biting the poor animal's tail most severely. 
 The little monkey naturally made an extraordinary 
 outcry, which reached the ears of the keeper, who 
 left his work and proceeded towards the cage. " I Ve 
 been watching you," said the keeper ; whereupon the 
 big monkey let go the little monkey's tail, and tried
 
 MONKEYS. 29 
 
 to look as if he were some one else. The keeper 
 opened the door and entered the cage, the monkey 
 sitting quite still, but watching him out of the corner 
 of his eyes. Presently the keeper produced a whip, 
 and made one step to the corner where the delin- 
 quent was sitting, when the monkey was everywhere at 
 once, hoping to elude the whip. Just, however, as he 
 made a great spring, the whip descended upon him 
 in mid air, whereat he uttered a doleful howl, and 
 dashed into a corner. Down came the whip again, 
 and away went the monkey, still followed by the whip, 
 until at last he coiled himself up very small, packed 
 himself into a corner, and contented himself with squeak- 
 ing at each cut. In the meanwhile, all the other mon- 
 keys had clung in a knot to the rails, except one, who 
 had chosen a capital plan to avoid a chance stroke of 
 the whip ; for at the beginning of the chastisement 
 he had jumped on the keeper's back, and stuck there 
 firmly, nor was he dislodged without some difficulty. 
 
 There have been many tales of the combination of 
 monkeys armed with sticks, who have made war or 
 resisted their enemies with great effect. This is not 
 true, as it has been satisfactorily ascertained that in 
 their native state, these animals have no idea of wea- 
 pons, and that the sticks, &c., said to be thrown at 
 travellers as they pass under the branches of trees, 
 are merely the dead branches broken off, as with the 
 mischievousness of their tribe they pass along the 
 tops of the trees to watch the proceedings of the 
 intruders below.* They can, however, be taught to 
 use a stick, and to use it well. Some time ago, two 
 Italians were the joint proprietors of an organ and a 
 monkey, the latter animal attracting the spectators' 
 sympathies to a great extent. During one of their 
 exhibitions a dog flew at the little monkey, and i 
 course excited the indignation not only of its owners? 
 but of the bystanders. Words ran high on both 
 
 * Perhaps the smaller monkeys may do so, the large ones 
 do not.
 
 30 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 sides, and at last it was agreed that the dog and 
 monkey should fight it out, the monkey in consider- 
 ation of his inferior size, to be allowed a stick. 
 
 A suitable staff was accordingly prepared, and the 
 monkey instructed in the part he was to play, in the 
 following manner. One of the Italians went on all 
 fours barking like a dog, while the other got on his 
 back, grasped his hair, and beat him about the head 
 with the stick. The monkey looked on with great 
 gravity, and when the instruction was over, received 
 the stick with the air of a man who knew his work, 
 and meant to do it. Preliminaries being settled, the 
 dog flew at the monkey with open mouth. The 
 monkey immediately leaped on his back, and grasp- 
 ing the dog's ear, paid away at his head with such 
 good will, that his adversary speedily gave in. The 
 monkey, however, was not content with a mere vic- 
 tory, but continued pounding at the dog's head until 
 he left him senseless on the ground. 
 
 These various tricks belong only to the smaller 
 monkeys, the larger ones being exceedingly savage 
 and morose as they grow old, although they are gen- 
 tle, and affectionate enough when young, and may be 
 taught sundry tricks. Even the savage orang-outang* 
 is a very gentle creature during its youth. Many of 
 my readers may remember the young orang-outang 
 at the Zoological Gardens, and its quiet manners. 
 It used to take walks in the garden leaning on its 
 keeper's arm, or sometimes accompanied by a lady. 
 Yet had it lived to its full growth, this creature would 
 most assuredly have sunk into a savage, ferocious, and 
 unapproachable animal. 
 
 The docility of this animal when young is well 
 
 shown in the description of a tame orang named 
 
 uan, in the possession of Dr. Yvan, a French tra- 
 
 eller. He was about three years old when first 
 
 presented to Dr. Yvan, and about as tall as a child of 
 
 the same age. When he was first introduced to his 
 
 cell, he collected all the linen he could lay his hands 
 
 * Simia Satyrus.
 
 MONKEYS. 3 1 
 
 upon, carried it into his room, and covered the walls 
 with it. Having completed these arrangements, 
 he took a napkin, rolled himself up in it, and took 
 formal possession of his new home. He was very 
 fond of clothing himself, for what reason it is difficult 
 to say. Cold could not have been the cause, for the 
 temperature of the tropics is more likely to induce 
 one to throw off clothes than to put them on. Every- 
 thing of a textile nature was heaped upon his shoul- 
 ders and head, even to the carpet of his room. 
 
 His disposition was not unlike that of a spoiled 
 child, agreeable and gentle as long as he had his own 
 way, but pettish and irritable if he were opposed or 
 contradicted. " One day," writes Dr. Yvan, " I took 
 from him a mango he had stolen ; at first he tried to 
 get it back, but being unable to do so, he uttered 
 plaintive cries, thrusting out his lips like a pouting 
 child. Finding that this pettishness had not the suc- 
 cess he anticipated, he threw himself flat on his face, 
 struck the ground with his fist, screamed, cried, and 
 howled, for more than half an hour ; at last I felt that 
 I was acting contrary to fcry duty in refusing the fruit 
 he desired. For, in opposition to God's will, I was 
 seeking to bend to the exigences of our civilisation 
 the independent nature which He had sent into the 
 world amidst virgin forests, in order that it should 
 obey its instinct and satisfy all its passions. I ap- 
 proached my ward, calling him by the most endearing 
 names, and offered him the mango. As soon as it 
 was within his reach, he clutched it with violence, 
 and threw it at my head. 
 
 " There was something so human in this action, 
 something so evil in the expression of his rage, that I 
 had no hesitation that day in classing Tuan among 
 our own species, he reminded me so much of 
 children of my acquaintance. But since then I 
 learned better, he was only on rare occasions peevish 
 and naughty." The doctor's experience of children 
 must have been rather unpleasant we will hope that
 
 32 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 few children of our own country have come in his 
 \vay. This pouting of the lips seems to be the com- 
 mon habit of the orang when displeased or per- 
 plexed. 
 
 At table the orang behaved himself very well after 
 a few lessons. At first he used to stretch his long 
 arms over the table, and snatch at everything that 
 pleased him, and when admonished by a box on the 
 ear that his deportment was not quite so perfect as 
 that of the celebrated Mr. Turveydrop, he guarded his 
 face with one hand, while he extended the other towards 
 the dish. A rap on the offending hand from the 
 handle of a knife taught him that although his face 
 might be shielded, his hands were equally assailable, 
 and afterwards he waited to be helped. When a plate 
 of soup was first presented to him, he exhibited little 
 less distress than the stork in the fable under similar 
 circumstances. He got on the table and tried to lap 
 it up, and finding this process very slow, he returned 
 to his chair, and lifting up his plate, tried to drink out 
 of it. Of course he then spilled the soup over his 
 breast. Taught by these faifcres, he soon learned the 
 use of a spoon, and ever after made use of it with 
 great address. 
 
 On board ship he became quite one of the crew, 
 having, like the men, his spoon and tin basin, which 
 he used to take with him in the morning and get filled 
 with coffee, after which, he would take his breakfast 
 with the crew. 
 
 He did not, however, confine himself to coffee, but 
 became a perfect connoisseur in wines. He had once 
 a glass half full of claret, 'and another half full of 
 champagne given him. In order to make sure of the 
 best, he took them both, one in each hand : a by- 
 der then endeavoured to take away the glass con- 
 ing the champagne. The monkey was too sharp 
 for him, for he instantly poured the champagne into 
 the claret glass, and then held out the empty glass to 
 the person who had offered to take it away. Another
 
 MONKEYS. 33 
 
 time, as he was amusing himself among the ropes of 
 the ship, he was called down to partake of a glass of 
 beer. Now beer was a very favourite beverage with 
 Tuan, but swinging hi the ropes was also a very fa- 
 vourite amusement, and he had not the smallest 
 intention of substituting the one for the other until 
 he was sure of gaining by the exchange. So he stayed 
 among the ropes for some time, looking earnestly at 
 the liquid, evidently half suspecting that it was not 
 beer. So he laid hold of a loose rope, lowered the 
 end of it into the tumbler, drew it up again, and 
 sucked the moistened end. Having thus satisfied 
 himself that the proffered beverage really was beer, 
 he descended at once. 
 
 Like almost all the large apes, Tuan held the 
 smaller monkeys in supreme contempt, and would 
 even prefer the company of a dog or a sheep to that 
 of the other monkeys on board. No animal was 
 suffered to enter his cage, and one day he caught and 
 plucked an unfortunate pigeon that had entered his 
 domains. His principal playfellows were the Tagal 
 girls, and his principal employment mango stealing, 
 in which act he was quite an adept. He had some 
 notion of property, for when the mangoes on which 
 he was fed were placed on board, he could be trusted 
 to go into the place where they were stowed away to- 
 gether with fruits belonging to the officers, the only 
 precaution necessary being to point out his own 
 bunches of mangoes. These he would consider his 
 own, and never offered to touch the others until his 
 own were gone, when he devoted his energies to 
 stealing those that remained. In that case his whole 
 demeanour altered. As long as he had mangoes of 
 his own in the cabin, he used to go in boldly, but 
 when his own had been exhausted, and he was at- 
 tempting to steal, he used to crawl in very slowly and 
 stealthily, and after having committed the theft, would 
 run away as fast as he could. 
 
 Dr. Yvan utterly denies that orangs have ever 
 
 D
 
 84 ANECDOTES OF ASIMAL LIFE. 
 
 learned to smoke, and denounces all pictures repre- 
 senting them so doing as " stereotyped lies." 
 
 BATS. 
 
 MANY of my readers are, doubtless, acquainted with 
 Paget's humorous, and, withal, instructive work, " The 
 Hope of the Katzekopfs of Katzenellenbogen," and 
 will recollect the fate of the self-willed hero of the 
 tale, how that he defied the power of his fairy god- 
 mother, and how he endeavoured to wrest the magic 
 wand from her hand, and the disastrous consequences 
 that followed. How the fairy shot through the key- 
 hole of the door, carrying her wand with her, and 
 how, when the wilful prince refused to loose his hold 
 of the top of the wand when ordered, found that he 
 was unable to do so when he wished the wand exer- 
 cising a power similar to that produced by the inno- 
 cent-looking cylinders suspended to a galvanic battery 
 and how he found the wand slowly but surely pass- 
 ing through the keyhole, dragging his fingers with it, 
 which elongated like wire as they reached the narrow 
 aperture, and how his whole body afterwards followed, 
 and was rolled up into a highly elastic football by the 
 incensed fairy. 
 
 Now, if you were to attach to the end of the fairy's 
 wand the limbs of a mouse instead of a prince, and 
 draw them through a piece of lady's perforated card 
 as far as the shoulder, and afterwards to place the 
 elongated limbs under Nasmyth's steam hammer, in 
 order to flatten out the skin, you would get a very 
 decent imitation of a bat. 
 
 There are many species of bats spread over the 
 greater part of the globe, of which about twenty-three 
 are known to inhabit England. The most common 
 of these, are the common bat (Scotophilus murinus], a 
 name that may be translated " Mouse-coloured Lover- 
 of-Darkness and the common long-eared bat, whose
 
 BATS. 35 
 
 scientific name (Plecotus communis) means " the com- 
 mon Folded-ears." The latter of these creatures is 
 the most beautiful of all our British bats, owing its 
 beauty to its enormous semi-transparent ears, which 
 are constantly in motion, and thrown into the most 
 elegant curves. This creature is easily tamed, and 
 has been known to be so far domesticated, as to live 
 in the room with a family, and take flies from the 
 hand. It would also take a fly from between the lips 
 of any of the family, and was so familiar with its 
 friends, that if any of them made a humming noise 
 with the lips in imitation of a fly, the bat would im- 
 mediately settle on its friend's cheek and search about 
 his lips for the expected prey. 
 
 Some interesting accounts of the habits of the Bri- 
 tish bats have been given by various persons who 
 have had them in captivity. The manner of feeding 
 and seizing their prey differs hi the various species. 
 The British bats are entirely insectivorous, although 
 they will feed upon raw meat when in confinement. 
 The great bat (Nocttdinia aUivolans) pounces on its 
 food just as a dog snaps at a piece of meat, while the 
 pipistrelle (Scotophilus murinus) directly a fly comes 
 within range of its wings, strikes it down with a 
 sharp blow, and falls down upon it, cowering over it 
 with its wings like the Nameless Horror, Zanoni's 
 fearful Dweller of the Threshold, and putting its head 
 under its wings, soon secures its imprisoned prey. 
 This same bat has been frequently found saving itself 
 the trouble of hunting after flies, by getting into 
 larders, and making a meal upon the meat which it 
 found there. A Great bat, or Noctule, when in con- 
 finement, would not touch flies, but devoured chopped 
 raw meat with avidity, the only insect it would eat 
 being the common cockchafer, and the greater part of 
 even that insect was rejected. The same bat was fortu- 
 nately possessed of a baby, and exhibited, or rather 
 did not exhibit the method of nursing its offspring. 
 In this dutv, die flexible membrane of the wings was 
 
 D 2
 
 86 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 called into play, and turned to a rather unexpected 
 use. The young bat was completely enveloped in the 
 folds of its mother's wings, which were thus converted 
 into a warm and soft cradle, which not only possessed 
 the advantage of warmth, but also kept the young 
 from falling out of it. So tightly did the mother 
 bat wrap up her young one, that it could not be seen 
 at all. It does not exactly agree with our notions of 
 infant nurture that a mother should hang head down- 
 wards while she held her young to her breast, yet this 
 was the position usually occupied by the bat. This 
 is, however, the usual attitude of bats when at rest. 
 The claws on their hinder feet are very sharp and 
 curved, and it is by means of these claws that the bat 
 suspends itself. When the long-eared bat is at rest, 
 it presents a most singular appearance, for it folds its 
 large ears under its arms, wraps the wings closely 
 round its body, and hangs from its hind feet. There 
 is an internal membrane in the ear, called the tragus, 
 and this is fully exposed when the ears are turned 
 back, so that the bat appears to possess narrow pointed 
 ears instead of the enormous organs with which it is 
 in reality furnished. 
 
 The bat above-mentioned was very particular about 
 her personal appearance, and used to spend much 
 time in combing herself with her hind feet. She was 
 as careful of the parting of her hair as any lady might 
 be expected to be, and made a beautifully straight 
 line from the head along the back, as far as the 
 tail. The young of the bat is blind, like the young 
 of several other animals, and remains with its eyes 
 closed for more than a week. Even from the first 
 day of its life the little bat is enabled to cling firmly 
 with its hind claws to its mother's fur, or even to any 
 rough surface. The common bat can use its tail both 
 for climbing and for walking on a flat surface. 
 
 All the bats are nocturnal, or rather, crepuscular in 
 their habits, not venturing from their place of con- 
 cealment until the dusk begins to come on. Then
 
 BATS. 87 
 
 they may be seen plentifully in the air darting after 
 the various flies and other insects that come out in 
 the evening, and displaying a command of wing but 
 little inferior to that of the swallow, although their 
 manner of flight is very different. Like the owls, 
 when they make a mistake, and get out into the blaze 
 of daylight, they are quite bewildered, and fly about 
 in the most vague and perplexed manner. Not very 
 long since, I was walking in Oxford, about noon, 
 when I saw a long-eared bat come flying up the 
 street, sometimes turning back, and then going for- 
 ward again, evidently completely out of its element. 
 At last it came straight over my head. I almost in- 
 stinctively leaped up, and struck at it with a whale- 
 bone switch, not imagining that it could be hit. To 
 my very great astonishment, the stick met with a 
 resistance, and the bat came to the ground, literally 
 cut in two, lengthwise, as clean as a knife would have 
 done it. I picked up the pieces and carried it home, 
 but the small parasites that issued from its skin were so 
 numerous, that it was soon ejected. It was rather 
 remarkable that not a drop of blood was spilled. 
 That same whalebone switch must have been en- 
 chanted, for it once killed a fine oak-egger moth in 
 much the same way, driving it high into the air with- 
 out the least damage, the point of the cane having 
 struck it below, exactly in the centre of the thorax. 
 
 Although the bats of England are insectivorous, 
 those of other countries vary in their food, some, as 
 the kalongs, being fruit-eaters, while others, the vam- 
 pires, live upon the blood of animals. The Javanese 
 kalong is an enormous creature, measuring five feet in 
 the spread of the wings. Now, bats are very vora- 
 cious : a bat weighing only ten drachms frequently 
 eating food to the weight of half an ounce at a single 
 meal. The amount of food, therefore, that is required 
 by these great kalongs must be correspondingly large. 
 Accordingly we find that the natives of those places 
 where they live are forced to protect their fruits
 
 38 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 with bamboo baskets, just as gardeners in this country 
 secure their grapes by tying them in a bag. The teeth 
 of these bats are so powerful that they not only devour 
 the ordinary fruits, but even contrive to gnaw through 
 the cocoa-nut. During the day, the kalongs hang from 
 the branches of trees suspended by their hind feet, 
 which retain such a hold on the branch, that if they 
 are shot while thus at rest they do not fall, but still 
 remain suspended. I have known a similar instance 
 of this power of the claws to sustain an animal after its 
 death. A common creeper (Certhia fomiliaris) was run- 
 ning round the trunk of a tree in its usual spiral course, 
 when it was suddenly arrested by a charge of shot 
 which killed it instantly. The little bird, however, 
 did not fall, but still remained holding on to the rough 
 bark with its long sharp claws. The whole body fell 
 backward, and its beautiful head hung down, but the 
 claws had taken so firm a hold, that when I climbed 
 up to the place where it was hanging, it required some 
 little force to detach it from the bark. 
 
 The vampire* affords a great contrast to the kalong. 
 The blood-sucking propensities of this creature are 
 well known, perhaps too well known, for accounts of 
 men who have lost then' lives by the wound inflicted 
 by the vampire are not uncommon, but are in all pro- 
 bability untrue. These bats appear to be very fasti- 
 dious in their tastes, affecting one person, while they 
 will not have anything to do with another. Mr. Water- 
 ton laments bitterly, that while happier people were 
 bitten by the vampire close to him, and lost plenty of 
 blood, he was so unfortunate as to escape without one 
 single bite. Man, however, is not so often a victim to 
 this winged leech as cattle. These, especially horses 
 and mules, are bitten either on the shoulder or at the 
 tip of the ear. The bat is probably led to choose the 
 shoulder because this animal cannot beat it away with 
 its tail or push it off with its nose ; and the ears are 
 of course bitten because there the blood runs so 
 * Vampirua spectrum.
 
 BATS. 39 
 
 freely. The people say that the horses are more in- 
 jured by the inflammation caused by the pressure of 
 the saddle on the wounded part than by the actual 
 loss of blood, although that is far from inconsiderable, 
 as the rapacious vampire is not content with sucking 
 its fill, but when full disgorges, and again begins suck- 
 ing. Ten or twelve ounces of blood are thus fre- 
 quently lost. Waterton mentions an instance of do- 
 mestic fowls being killed by bats. 
 
 The usual colour of bats closely resembles that of 
 the common mouse ; but two examples are said to have 
 been known of bats being of a bright scarlet. In both 
 instances they were entombed hi living wood one 
 being secluded hi a cherry tree, and the other in a 
 pear tree and in both instances the person who dis- 
 covered them let them go under the impression that 
 they were not inhabitants of this world. One of 
 these singular animals was found hi Cheshire, and the 
 other hi Selkirkshire. The cavity where these pri- 
 soners had been confined was perfectly smooth in the 
 interior, and afforded no perceptible aperture through 
 which the bat could have drawn either air or nourish- 
 ment.* Of course the reader will perceive the singu- 
 lar analogy between these bats and the toads that 
 have been discovered by workmen deeply imbedded 
 in the recesses of a large stone, and apparently happy 
 hi their seclusion. There have also been instances of 
 toads having been found imprisoned hi the trunks of 
 trees, exactly as were these bats. A bird's-nest well 
 furnished with eggs was once found in the centre of an 
 apparently solid log of wood. 
 
 The nursing habits of the bat have been already 
 described. One habit, however, was omitted, that the 
 female bat can not only cany her young one about 
 with her while at home, and rock it hi the cradle of 
 her wings, but can also fly about with the young bat 
 still hanging to her body. This it does by means of 
 the hind feet, which grasp the parent firmly on each 
 * Many naturalists doubt both the stories.
 
 40 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 side, so that while the mother bat is flying hi the 
 usual position, her young one is hanging upside down 
 suspended from her fur, the two together presenting a 
 most extraordinary appearance. 
 
 LION.* 
 
 OUR histories and descriptions of lions may be divided 
 into 1, the marvellous ; 2, the matter-of-fact ; and 3, the 
 imaginative. Let it then be the aim of the following 
 pages to combine these several qualities, and so to tem- 
 per one with the other, that the marvellous may not 
 overpass the bounds of truth, that the matter-of-fact 
 may not degenerate into dryness, and that the imagi- 
 native may not wander too unrestrainedly. 
 
 Firstly, then, for the necessarily dry details, which 
 must as necessarily be overcome before entering on 
 the more interesting description, as the shell must be 
 broken before the kernel can be obtained ; for as the 
 shell acts as a preservation to the kernel, and yet is in 
 itself hard and difficult to be broken, so the statistical 
 details which encompass every branch of science, at 
 the same time that they act as guardians to that 
 science, which is as it were inclosed by them, do not 
 yield up their guarded fruit until they are themselves 
 overcome. 
 
 At the head of the beasts of prey are placed the 
 cat-tribe, on account of the perfection of their form, 
 their beauty, and their exceeding activity ; and at 
 their head stands that beast which excels in all these 
 characteristics, the noble Lion. A few words respect- 
 ing the extensive and beautiful family to which the 
 lion belongs will be pardoned here. The Felida are 
 mostly nocturnal animals, seeking their pi-ey by night, 
 and lying concealed in their dens during the day. In 
 order to adapt their vision to the darkness of night, the 
 
 * Leo barbarus.
 
 LION. 41 
 
 pupil of the eye is capable of very great enlargement, 
 so as to take in every ray of light however dim. To give 
 it a greater power of dilatation, in many of the smaller 
 felidte, the pupil of the eye opens in a slit-like form, 
 which is constantly changing its shape and size, as any 
 one may see by examining the eyes of an ordinary cat. 
 The teeth are arranged in a manner beautifully 
 adapted to the predatory life which they lead. All the 
 teeth are sharp the canine teeth being curiously long 
 and pointed. This structure causes the peculiar 
 pecking-like motion with which the Felidce eat their 
 food, because they have no flat grinder teeth between 
 which the food can be ground as in a mill, the sharp 
 teeth with which they are furnished only acting as the 
 teeth of a carding machine, and tearing the food into 
 strips. The size of the canine teeth is very deceptive. 
 No one who has not seen the canine teeth of a full- 
 grown lion taken out of their sockets can have any 
 idea of their real size. They form a good handful, 
 and are extremely heavy, leading those who see them 
 for the first time to mistake them for small elephant 
 or walrus tusks. 
 
 The long stiff bristles on each side of the mouth, 
 called whiskers, are each joined at their base to a large 
 nerve, and consequently become delicate organs of 
 touch, whose probable use is to indicate to the animal 
 any obstacle which the darkness of night might ren- 
 der invisible, and which, if agitated, might rouse the 
 wary animals whom it was attempting to approach 
 by stealth. Some think that the whiskers serve as 
 gauges to ascertain the width of any aperture through 
 which the animal wishes to pass. 
 
 The powerful limbs are furnished at their extremi- 
 ties with sharp curved claws, used in striking down, 
 securing, and rending their prey. These would be 
 useless if they were not constantly kept sharp ; and in 
 order to keep them from contact with the ground 
 when the animal is walking, each can be retracted 
 within a sheath. This movement is managed by* two
 
 43 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 elastic tendons, which contract or relax, according as 
 the limb is extended or suffered to remain in its ordi- 
 nary position. When the animal strikes out with its 
 paw to secure its prey, the tendon is shortened by the 
 contraction of the muscles, and throws out all the 
 claws. This action is admirably expressed in one of 
 the Nineveh sculptures, delineating a struggle between 
 a lion and a bull. As usual in these sculptures, the 
 claws are rather exaggerated ; but the action of the 
 lion, who, with one paw on the bull's head, is aiming 
 a tremendous blow with the other, is extremely spi- 
 rited, and, making allowances for unskilful drawing, 
 very exact. Many of the felidte can ascend trees by 
 means of their claws ; but of this power the lion is 
 destitute. 
 
 It is rather a characteristic fact, that although the 
 present race of men are prodigiously sceptical in 
 everything that militates at all against their own pre- 
 conceived ideas, and refuse to believe anything that 
 themselves have not seen, a former generation placed 
 too implicit a credence in the accounts of men who 
 had visited other countries, and thereby strongly 
 tempted them to declare that they had seen all kinds 
 of marvels which they knew their stay-at-home friends 
 thought they ought to have seen. There was scarcely a 
 traveller who had not a personal acquaintance with 
 Prester John, or had not witnessed a terrific combat 
 between a lion and a unicorn, faithfully narrating how 
 the lion cunningly got in front of a tree, behind 
 which he jumped just as his foe charged at him, 
 thereby causing the unicorn to strike his horn deep 
 into the tree. Then he tells how the lion calmly 
 walked up to his impotent foe, and deliberately ate 
 him up, much in the same way that certain savages 
 eat criminals in the present day, viz. by tying them to 
 a post, and cutting off the delicate pieces with oyster 
 shells. 
 
 Is the traveller an artist? he thinks it neces- 
 sary to "depict ye representation" of the various
 
 LION. 43 
 
 beasts he sees, and accordingly puts his rhinoceros 
 into a full suit of plate armour, carefully marking the 
 rivets and joint bosses, and screwing on a supple- 
 mentary horn wherever he finds room. Does he depict 
 a hyaena he adorns its countenance with a fascinating 
 smile, supposed to be indicative of the laughter where- 
 with it beguiles its prey to the scene of imagined 
 joviality, and then devours them with the triple row of 
 wedge-shaped teeth, with which its jaws are duly fur- 
 nished, after piercing them to the heart with a spike 
 from the extremity of its tail. Then, there are some 
 animals which he has not seen, but which he thinks 
 he ought to have seen so he draws them too ; and 
 it is difficult to say which is the more extraordinary 
 work, the drawing on the paper, or the drawing on 
 his imagination. 
 
 An acquaintance with the appearance of the satyr, 
 he knows well will be expected of him so he draws 
 a satyr accordingly. First, he goes to the panto- 
 mime, and takes from thence Pantaloon, whom he puts 
 on all fours. He then substitutes vulture's claws 
 for his feet, and lion's paws for his hands. He 
 then goes to the nearest wool-combers, and takes an 
 armful of wool, with which he decorates each joint, 
 and fringes the ears. He then draws an accurate 
 portrait of the creature, and calleth it a satyr. So his 
 readers are perfectly satisfied, and inspect the portrait 
 of a satyr with no small edification and are thank- 
 ful that they never saw such things. 
 
 Then there is the phoenix, upon whom the traveller 
 came just as the resuscitated bird sprang rejoicing 
 from the ashes, and succeeded in rescuing part of a 
 feather, and a piece of half-burnt cedar, from the 
 flames, both of which relics he brings home, together 
 with the Tartar lamb, and a branch of the upas tree, 
 which relics he exhibits with great complacency dur- 
 ing his lifetime, and at his death bequeaths to form 
 the foundation of a museum. 
 
 Hen prisca Jides ! In those happy days no one
 
 44 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 would have ventured to contradict a traveller in his 
 assertion that he had eaten unicorn steaks, or slain a 
 griffin with naked hands. Now a man is laughed at 
 if he relates the circumstances attending a meal made 
 upon slices of meat cut from a living cow, or narrates 
 the stirring incidents and dangers attending a lion 
 hunt. 
 
 Let me here give an account of the sagacity of a lion 
 as recounted by one of those ancient writers to whom 
 I have alluded. The writer in question, Topsell, is so 
 quaint in his language, so remarkable in his reflec- 
 tions, and so delightfully simple in his credulity, that 
 I purpose affording my readers the pleasure of perus- 
 ing some of his ideas''concerning various animals of 
 which the following pages will treat. The work, an 
 enormously large one, is copiously illustrated with 
 the most mirth-provoking drawings, executed with 
 considerable spirit, but designed with more imagina- 
 tion than veracity. 
 
 " In Pangius, a mountain of Thracia, there was a 
 lionesse which had whelpes in her den, the which den 
 was obserued by a Beare, the which Beare on a day 
 finding the den vnfortified, both by the absence of the 
 Lion and the Lionesse, entred into the same and slew 
 the Lion's whelpes, afterward went away, and fearing 
 a reuenge, for her better securitie against the Lion's 
 rage, climbed vp into a tree, and there sat as in a 
 sure castle of defence ; at length the lion and lionesse 
 returned both home, and finding their little ones 
 dead in their owne bloud, according to naturall affec- 
 tion fell both exceeding sorrowfull to see them so 
 slaughtered whom they both loued ; but smelling out 
 by the foote the murderer, followed with rage vp and 
 downe vntil they came to the tree, whereinto the 
 Beare was ascended, and seeing her, looked both of 
 them gastly upon her, oftentimes assaying to get into 
 the tree, but all in vain, for nature which adorned 
 them with singular strength and nimblenesse, yet had 
 not endued them with power of climbing, so that the
 
 LION. 45 
 
 tree hindring them from reuenge, gaue vnto them 
 further occasion of mourning, and vnto the Beare to 
 reioyce at her owne crueltie, and deride their sorrow. 
 
 " Then the male forsook the female, leauing her to 
 watch the tree, and he like a mournfull father for the 
 losse of his children, wandred vp and downe the 
 mountaine, making great moane and sorrow, till at 
 the last he saw a Carpenter hewing wood, who seeing 
 the lion comming towards him, let fall his Axe for 
 feare, but the lion came very louingly towards him, 
 fawning gently vpon his breast with his fore feete, and 
 licking his face with his tongue ; which gentlenesse 
 of the lion the man perceauing, he was much as- 
 tonished, and being more and more embraced, and 
 fawned on by the Lion, he followed him, leauing his 
 Axe behind him which he had let fall, which the Lion 
 perceauing went backe, and made signes with his 
 foote to the Carpenter that he should take it vp ; but 
 the Lion perceauing that the man did not vnderstand 
 his signes, hee brought it himselfe in his mouth, and 
 deliuered it vnto him, and so led him into his caue, 
 where his yongue whelpes lay all embrewed in their 
 owne bloude, and then led him where the Lionesse 
 did watch the Beare ; she therefore seeing them both 
 comming, as one that knew her husband's purpose, 
 did signifie vnto the man he should consider of the 
 miserable slaughter of her yongue whelpes, and 
 showing him by signes that he should looke vp into 
 the tree, where the Beare was, which when the man 
 saw, he coniectured that the Beare had done some 
 grieuous iniurie vnto them ; he therefore tooke his 
 Ax, and hewed downe the tree by the rootes, which 
 being so cut, the Beare tumbled downe headlong, 
 which the two furious Beastes seeing, they toar her 
 all to peeces. And afterwards the lion conducted the 
 man vnto the place and worke, where he first met 
 him, and there left him, without doing the least 
 violence or harme vnto him." 
 
 Perhaps some may be glad to know the reason why
 
 46 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 beasts wag their tails. The rationale of this process is 
 given at full length by the same author. ' The back- 
 bone of some such beasts is hollow, and contained! 
 in it marrow, which reacheth to the taile, and, there- 
 fore, there is in the taile a kinde of animall motion 
 and power, for which cause, when the beaste seeth 
 one of his acquaintance, he waggeth his taile by way 
 of salutation, for the same reason that men shake 
 hands, for that part is the readiest and nimblest 
 member of his body, but bulls and lions are con- 
 strained to the wagging of then* tailes, for the same 
 reason that angry men are light fingered, and apt to 
 strike, for when they cannot have sufficient power to 
 reuenge, they either speake if they be men, or else 
 barke if they be dogges, or smite their sides with 
 their tailes if they be lions ; by that means vttering 
 the furie of their rage to the ease of nature, which 
 they cannot to the fall desire of revenge." 
 
 It has been the custom for naturalists to speak of 
 the lion as a solitary animal, living by himself, or, at 
 all events, only permitting the society of his wife and 
 family for the time being, and violently assaulting 
 every other lion that happens to come near him. All 
 beasts are said to fly from his neighbourhood, except 
 the jackal, who was said to be retained as a kind of 
 messenger, or confidential servant, who might be 
 trusted to look out for prey, and help to catch it for his 
 master, who, after he had eaten as much as he pos- 
 sibly could, and given his family the remainder, gene- 
 rously suffered the jackal to pick the bones. Many 
 were the poetical similes brought to bear upon un- 
 sociable monarchs. who were compared to the kingly- 
 lion, suffering none to approach his royal person. 
 Now Gumming, to whose intrepid exertions and faith- 
 ful accounts of the various animals seen by him hi 
 their native wilds, science is so much indebted, re- 
 peatedly saw three or four lions very amicably hunting 
 together, without the slightest desire to wage a civil 
 war, while, on one occasion, six full-grown lions were
 
 L10K. 47 
 
 seen drinking at a fountain. Moreover, if the lion is 
 feasting on a large carcass, numbers of hyaenas, jack- 
 als, dec., do not hesitate to play their part in the de- 
 molition of the feast They do not appear to stand 
 in much fear of the lion, but, of course, move out of 
 his way if he makes a step in their direction. A very 
 spirited illustration of this habit was seen when the 
 hunter had shot three rhinoceroses near a fountain. 
 It was his custom, when desirous of watching for lions, 
 to dig a hole in the ground near the water, where he 
 stowed his blankets and pillows, and ranged a goodly 
 supply of guns, whose contents were intended to 
 make a speedy acquaintance with the internal anatomy 
 of the lion, or other animals who should come and 
 drink at the fountain. Soon after nightfall, on look- 
 bag towards the place where the carcasses of the rhi- 
 noceroses were lying, he saw that there were many 
 large animals, whom his servant took to be zebras, 
 capering about the spot. These creatures turned out 
 to be six lions, twelve or fifteen hyenas, and a large 
 number of jackals, all of which were devouring the 
 recently-slain animals. The lions feasted quietly 
 enough, calm, and trusting in their strength, but the 
 lesser animals quarreled incessantly, snarling and 
 growling over each mouthful. This busy scene con- 
 tinued for some time, until a lioness discovered the 
 lurking foes, and as she came round with no very 
 amicable intentions, she was obliged to digest one of 
 those leaden pills that look, hi their canvas jackets, 
 like tennis balls in miniature. On handling a few of 
 these balls, which were exhibited in the South African 
 collection, one ceases to wonder at the magical effect 
 of a single shot in rolling over a large animal, even 
 when the wound is not mortal. This rough salute, of 
 course, immediately broke up the festive party. 
 
 Sydney Smith, in one of his witty papers, refers to 
 the supposed solitary habits of lions, and remarks that 
 if they only could learn to act in concert, no animals, 
 not even man, could oppose them. Now it has been
 
 48 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 proved that not only are lions not solitary animals, 
 but that they live and hunt peaceably together. More- 
 over, an incident that occurred at the encampment of 
 Mr. Gumming, shows that lions can also act in concert, 
 and play into one another's hands. The morning on 
 which that event occurred had been stormy and cold, 
 so that the hunter had not left his waggon at his usual 
 hour. The oxen were, as usual, near the waggons, under 
 the protection of the Hottentots. These guards, how- 
 ever, on hearing the cry of a honey-bird, set off, ac- 
 cording to the manner of Hottentots, in quest of the 
 honey, leaving the oxen unguarded. In so deserting 
 their post, although they might, for the time, escape 
 the observation of their master, they were closely 
 watched by two pair of gleaming, hungry eyes. While 
 the hunter was reclining in his waggon, consoling 
 himself with a book, he was rather startled by hearing 
 the entire herd trot by in front of the waggons, as if 
 they were driven sharply. The driver soon became 
 apparent in the person of a lioness, who was following 
 behind at a few yards' distance, and on looking a 
 little farther, her mate, a venerable shaggy-maned 
 lion, was seen quietly waiting just in front of them, 
 and was evidently placed there for the purpose of 
 springing upon the oxen directly his spouse had 
 scattered them by a charge from the rear. There can 
 be no doubt but that this was a preconcerted plot 
 between the two lions, who must have arranged the 
 whole matter beforehand, and have taken advantage 
 of the departure of the Hottentots with no less skill 
 than cunning. It is said that lions frequently employ 
 this ruse to scatter herds of wild butfaloes, so that 
 both may be able to fall on one devoted buffalo, whose 
 strength and courage would, if he were assailed by a 
 single lion, make him a most formidable antagonist. 
 
 Lions seldom choose to attack mankind, unless they 
 are very hungry, or unless they are first assaulted. 
 When, however, they have once tasted human blood, 
 they are said to prefer it to any other food, and will
 
 LION. 49 
 
 seek their prey in the most determined manner. Such 
 lions are significantly called by the natives "man- 
 eaters." As an example of the resolute manner in 
 which a hungry " man-eater" will attack a human 
 being, the account of Gumming will suffice : 
 
 " After supper, three of my men returned before 
 their comrades, and lay down ; these were John Sto- 
 folus, Hendrick, and Kuyter. In a few minutes an ox 
 came out by the gate of the kraal and walked round 
 the back of it. Hendrick got up and drove him in 
 again, and then went back to his fire-side and lay 
 down ; Hendrick and Ruyter lay on one side of the 
 fire under one blanket, and John Stofolus lay on the 
 other. At this moment I was sitting taking some 
 barley broth. Our fire was very small, and the night 
 was pitch-dark and windy. Owing to our proximity 
 to the native village, the wood was very scarce, the 
 Bakalahari having burnt it all in their fires. 
 
 " Suddenly the appalling and murderous voice of 
 an angry bloodthirsty lion burst upon my ear within 
 a few yards of us, followed by the shrieking of the 
 Hottentots. Again and again the murderous roar of 
 attack was repeated. We heard John and Ruyter 
 shriek, ' The lion ! the lion !' still for a few minutes 
 we thought he was chasing one of the dogs round the 
 kraal ; but the next instant John Stofolus rushed into 
 the midst of us, almost speechless with fear and ter- 
 ror, his eyes bursting from their sockets, and shrieked 
 out, ' The lion ; the lion ! he has got Hendrick ; he 
 dragged him away from the fire beside me ; I struck 
 him with the burning brands upon his head ; but he 
 would not let go his hold. Hendrick is dead ! Oh 
 God ! Hendrick is dead ! Let us take fire and seek 
 him.' The rest of my people rushed about shrieking 
 and yelling as if they were mad. I was at once angry 
 with them for their folly, and told them if they did 
 not stand still and keep quiet the lion would have 
 another of us, and that very likely there was a troop 
 of them. I ordered the dogs, which were nearly all 
 
 E
 
 50 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIKE. 
 
 fast, to be made loose, and the fire to be increased as 
 far as could be. I then shouted Hendrick's name, 
 but all was still. I told my men that Hendrick was 
 dead, and that a regiment of soldiers could not now 
 help him, and hunting my dogs forward, I had every- 
 thing brought within the cattle-kraal, when we lighted 
 our fire and closed the entrance as well as we could. 
 
 " My terrified people sat round the fire with guns 
 in their hands till the day broke, still fancying that 
 every moment the lion would return and spring again 
 into the midst of us. When the dogs were first let 
 go, the stupid brutes, as dogs often prove when most 
 required, instead of going at the lion, rushed fiercely 
 on one another, and fought desperately for some 
 minutes. After this they got his scent, and going at 
 him, disclosed to us his position ; they kept up a con- 
 tinual barking till the day dawned, the lion occa- 
 sionally springing after them, and driving them hi 
 upon the kraal. The horrible monster lay all night 
 within forty yards of us, consuming the wretched man 
 whom he had chosen for his prey. He had dragged 
 him into a little hollow at the back of the thick bush, 
 beside which the fire was kindled, and there he re- 
 mained till the day dawned, careless of our proximity. 
 
 " It appeared that when the unfortunate Hendrick 
 rose to drive in the ox the lion had watched him to 
 the fire-side, and he had scarcely lain down when the 
 brute sprang on him and Ruyter (for both lay under 
 one blanket) with his appalling murderous roar, and 
 roaring as he lay, grappled him with his fearful claws, 
 and kept biting him on the breast and shoulder, all 
 the while feeling for his neck, having got hold of 
 "which, he at once dragged him away backwards round 
 the back into the dense shade. 
 
 A- the lion lay on the unfortunate man he faintly 
 cried out, 'Help me; help me, oh God ! men, help me!' 
 After which the fearful beast got a hold of his neck, 
 and then all was still, except that his comrades heard 
 the bones of his neck cracking between the teeth of
 
 LION. 51 
 
 the lion. John Stofolus had lain with his back to 
 the fire on the opposite side, and, on hearing the lion, 
 he sprang up, and seizing a large flaming brand, he had 
 belaboured him on the head with the burning wood ; 
 but the brute did not take any notice of him. The 
 bushman had a narrow escape ; he was not altogether 
 scatheless, the lion having inflicted two gashes in his 
 seat with his claws." 
 
 It may be satisfactory to those who read the above 
 passage to know that the lion had no more opportunities 
 of exercising his man-eating propensities, for at the 
 morrow's dawn the death of his servant was revenged 
 by Mr. Gumming, who traced the lion to his lair, and 
 there shot him. By the way, it is rather amusing to 
 mark the contrast between the descriptions of lion- 
 shooting in Cumming's book, and in the works of 
 other authors. Perhaps the narrative of the lively 
 and verbose Vaillant is as complete a contrast as can 
 be found. Mr. Gumming goes out in the morning, 
 " bowls over" a lion before breakfast, and jots the 
 event down among the daily occurrences of desert 
 life. M. Vaillant visits a horde of Hottentots, and 
 excited by their complaints of a lion and lioness that 
 had taken up their residence in a small coppice, mag- 
 nanimously determines to attack the enemy. So, 
 taking with him the whole of the Hottentot tribe, he 
 visits the coppice, and matures his plans. As neither 
 the Hottentots nor himself had the smallest intention 
 of entering the coppice, they drove a herd of oxen 
 into it. The lions, being disturbed, began to roar in 
 a manner which, according to our Homeric author, was 
 not less tremendous than the shock of two armies. 
 After some time, Vaillant records with great glorifica- 
 tion, the death of the lioness, which, however, he did 
 not shoot himself, as she fell by the hand of one of 
 his attendants. Having thus settled the lioness, he 
 was naturally encouraged to try to shoot her mate. 
 So he recommenced his plan of driving oxen into the 
 wood, and worked hard all day to drive out the lion
 
 52 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 towards his band of marksmen. At sunset, however, 
 he wisely considered that the attack might become 
 dangerous, and accordingly postponed proceedings 
 until the morning. As might have been expected, when 
 he came to renew the attack on the following morn- 
 ing, the coppice was empty. The Hottentots might 
 have been set free from both their foes if Mr. Gum- 
 ming had been by, nor would he have required the 
 help of all the tribe. Indeed, he held the native 
 courage in most supreme contempt, especially since 
 the time when he saw one lion put to flight two hundred 
 and sixty armed men. The savages appear to hold a 
 lion in the same estimation that Waverley's pistol 
 was held by the mob. It certainly may only kill one 
 man, but then each might be that one, so they pru- 
 dently all ran away. 
 
 Every one has heard of Androcles yon will please 
 to call him Androcles and his lion-companion ; how 
 the persecuted slave, escaping from his master, hid 
 himself in a desert cave ; and how the cave turned 
 out to be the castle of a lion, who, instead of eating 
 his guest, made him his surgeon in ordinary, and 
 gave him a plentiful board and a dry lodging. Then 
 every one knows the catastrophe of the story, how 
 the slave, being recaptured, was condemned, accord- 
 ing to the civilised law of Rome, to fight unarmed 
 with lions ; and how his antagonist proved to be his 
 ancient host, who had been captured nearly at the 
 same time as himself, and who, being freed by the 
 unanimous voice of the Roman people, lived with 
 Androcles, and spent the remainder of his life in a 
 quiet and gentlemanly manner, without having to 
 work for his living. 
 
 Now, although in these days we do not meet 
 people walking about accompanied by lions, such a 
 circumstance not having taken place since the days 
 of Nero; yet lions do live on most comfortable 
 and even affectionate terms with those to whom 
 they are accustomed, suffering them to take liber-
 
 LION. 53 
 
 ties which most domestic cats would resent. I have 
 seen a keeper knock a lion down, and then drag 
 him about the cage by his ears, or pull his tail with 
 exceeding violence, and, in fact, offer him all manner 
 of insults, to which the lion only answered by a self- 
 satisfied kind of a purr. While examining the beauti- 
 ful animals with whom he was playing such tricks, I 
 asked the keeper if he would cut off a piece of the 
 lion's mane for my inspection. I was rather horrified 
 to see him take hold of the mane and actually pull 
 out a respectably-sized bunch of hair, of which the 
 lion took not the slightest notice. Two more good- 
 natured affectionate animals cannot be conceived than 
 those inhabiting the cage ; and many were the wishes 
 expressed by the spectators to have them as pets. 
 There was a very small boy, who was accustomed to 
 go into the den, and who seemed to consider the lions 
 as his natural playfellows, pushing them down, and 
 sitting on them without any ceremony. Contraiy to 
 the habits of most of the Felida, these two gentle 
 lions did not make any disturbance while feeding, but 
 took their allowance (and a very small allowance it 
 appeared) as quietly as a well-trained dog. One was 
 fed a few minutes before the other; but the unfed 
 one did not make a fuss, as might have been expected, 
 but waited quietly for his turn. The other animals 
 were not nearly so patient, for on the first sniff of a 
 piece of meat carried by a man along the front of the 
 cages, the tigers, leopards, wolves, and hyena, began 
 a great outcry, and were not to be pacified until they 
 had each received their food. 
 
 During part of the day, the two pet lions were 
 engaged in a regular game of bo-peep with a young 
 woman belonging to the establishment; and they 
 sprang and danced about with such agility that it was 
 impossible not to wish them a larger cage for the 
 exercise of their limbs. No lion in a cage can give 
 an idea of the majestic deportment of the animal 
 when in its own country, walking free and at large,
 
 54 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 real "monarch of all he surveys," for hetween the 
 lion and the elephant and rhinoceros a kind of 
 mutual compact seems to take place, that neither 
 shall meddle with the other. No one has seen the 
 lion to such perfection as Gordon Gumming, whose 
 hook is so well and so deservedly known, that I must 
 first apologize for quoting from it at all, and secondly, 
 that I extract so little. Let it be therefore under- 
 stood, that all who wish to obtain an insight into the 
 habits of this magnificent animal, as he wanders free 
 and unconstrained through his native wastes, are re- 
 commended to obtain Mr. Gordon Cumming's work, 
 and read it carefully. There is no one who has seen 
 so much of the lion as has Mr. Gumming, for there 
 is no one who has dared so much in the pursuit. 
 Not the least valuable part of his work is the journal- 
 like form of its pages, which, while they do not aim 
 at florid description, impress their truth more firmly 
 by their simplicity. The work carries the evidence of 
 its truthfulness in its front, and to none is its ac- 
 curacy so evident as to naturalists, for although many 
 who are ignorant of natural history, or who only pos- 
 sess a sufficient smattering to make them conceited 
 at their attainments, have been pleased to sneer at 
 statements made in that work, the sneer proceeds from 
 ignorance and not from knowledge. 
 
 It is a curious fact, that a good naturalist will often, 
 from the very extent of his knowledge and the diffi- 
 dence which extended knowledge on an unlimited 
 subject always produces, be more likely to give credence 
 to a strange fact than one whose knowledge of the sub- 
 ject is very limited indeed. One anecdote in particular 
 that he related roused the incredulity of innumerable 
 individuals, who suggested that Mr. Gumming had 
 employed the long bow instead of the rifle. Those 
 who are acquainted with his work will recollect that he 
 mentions the rather curious fact of a snake spitting 
 poison. " A horrid snake, which Kleinboy had tried 
 to kill with his loading-rod, flew up at my eye, and
 
 LION. 55 
 
 spat poison in it ; immediately I washed it out at the 
 fountain. I endured great pain all night, the next 
 day the eye came all right." Now this statement 
 drew down a storm of incredulous laughter at the 
 individual who ventured to assert anything so pal- 
 pably false. The incredulous, however, were not 
 aware that in that very part of Africa there does 
 exist a venomous serpent, one of the Najas, which 
 really ejects its poison precisely in the manner de- 
 scribed. Another proof of his accuracy in describing 
 events as they really happened is, that he has ventured 
 to accuse the lion of occasional cowardice. 
 
 The cubs of the lion are pretty playful things. 
 Their weight is very great in proportion to their size, 
 and they are stronger than their appearance warrants, 
 so that a playful pat of their paw is far from agree- 
 able. Few people have any conception of the power 
 of a lion's paw. The dissection of the muscles of the 
 fore-arm of the lion gives some idea of the strength 
 that once reposed in those knotty cords, but the force 
 of the blow can only be judged from its effects. It 
 is well known that a stroke from the paw of a lion 
 will fracture a man's skull, or dash even a large beast 
 to the ground ; but its real strength is perhaps better 
 exhibited when the animal does not wish to use 
 violence, than when it is excited by rage or hunger. 
 A full grown lioness is a large animal, and more than 
 proportionately heavy ; yet I once saw a lion, with the 
 very slightest imaginable wave of his paw, dash his 
 mate from the comer of the cage, where she was rear- 
 ing against the bars, and send her sprawling on her 
 back as if she had been a little lamb. 
 
 Among the many noble animals which adorned 
 Van Amburgh's collection of wild beasts, there were 
 two, a lion and a tiger, who had been lately placed in 
 the same den, as it was hoped that an intimacy might 
 commence between them. However the plan might 
 have succeeded eventually, at the time when I saw 
 them they were by no means on friendly terms with
 
 56 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 each other, and neither would let the other approach 
 without a growl and a scratch. On one of these 
 occasions, the lion struck its claws so deeply into the 
 tiger's foot, that a large piece of the flesh was cut 
 completely out of the upper part of the foot, and the 
 movements of the bones were visible. The tiger did 
 not seem to trouble himself much about it, and cer- 
 tainly did not seem half so discomposed as those who 
 witnessed the accident. 
 
 When the animals belonging to the cat-tribe have 
 seized their prey, they often lie quietly for some time 
 before they begin to devour it, just as a cat may be 
 observed to do with a newly caught mouse. This 
 quietude, however, vanishes directly the captured 
 animal begins to move. It is therefore possible for a 
 man, who has been struck down by a lion, either to 
 kill the animal, or to make his escape. The courage- 
 ous conduct of Captain Woodhouse, when lying under 
 the claws of an enraged lion, is too well known for 
 me to do more than refer to it. The captain had 
 been hunting a lion, and had been knocked down by 
 the' infuriated animal. He had the presence of mind 
 to remain quite still even when the lion was crunch- 
 ing one of his arms. The lion, finding his victim 
 offei'ed no resistance, let go his arm and lay down 
 with his paws upon the captain's breast. In this 
 position they remained until the friends of the fallen 
 man arrived, when a ball laid the lion prostrate by 
 the side of his intended victim. If Captain Wood- 
 house had attempted to make the least resistance, he 
 would inevitably have been killed. Even as it was, 
 he unthinkingly raised his hand once, when the lion 
 immediately seized his arm in his mouth, and again 
 began crunching it, fracturing the bone in a fresh 
 place. The fact is, that the lion, as well as the other 
 FelidcB, is very suspicious, and possesses a strong spice 
 of cowardice among his undoubted valour. Some- 
 times, too, he seizes upon a man in the impulse of 
 sudden fear, if he comes upon him unexpectedly.
 
 LION. 57 
 
 There have been several instances known where a 
 lion has pounced upon a man evidently urged by 
 fear, and when the man has remained passive under 
 his attack the lion has left him uninjured, except by 
 fright. 
 
 It is well known that the human voice has a great 
 effect upon all animals. This is not so much the case 
 when the voice is raised in loud shouts, as when it is 
 used in articulating words, the very sound of which 
 appears to terrify even the most savage beasts. A 
 lioness is at all times fiercer than a lion, and when 
 wounded she becomes a perfect fury, heeding no 
 obstacles and flying at her assailants with the most 
 indomitable ferocity. Yet Mr. Gumming has recorded 
 an adventure in which even a wounded lioness was 
 checked by the sounds of the human voice. He had 
 shot at a lioness, having at the time only one charge 
 in his rifle. " The ball told badly ; the lioness at 
 which I had fired wheeled right round, and came on 
 lashing her tail, showing her teeth, and making that 
 horrid murderous deep growl which an angiy lion 
 generally utters. Her comrade hastily retreated. The 
 instant the lioness came on I stood up to my full 
 height, holding my rifle and my arms extended high 
 above my head. This checked her on her course, 
 but on looking round and missing her comrade, and 
 observing Ruyter slowly advancing, she was still more 
 exasperated, and fancying that she was near being 
 surrounded, she made another forward movement, 
 growling terribly. This was a moment of great 
 danger; I felt that my only chance of safety was 
 extreme steadiness, so standing motionless as a rock, 
 with my eyes firmly fixed on her, I called in a clear 
 commanding voice, ' Holloa, old girl ! what 's the 
 hurry? Take it easy! Holloa! holloa!' She once more 
 halted and seemed perplexed, looking round for her 
 companion. I then thought it prudent to beat a 
 retreat, which I very slowly did, talking to the lioness 
 all the time. She seemed undecided as to her future
 
 58 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 movements, and was gazing after me and sniffing the 
 ground when I last beheld her." 
 
 It not unfrequently happens that lions, when in 
 captivity, make friends of some smaller animal, and 
 not only forbear from injuring it but even suffer 
 themselves to be bullied by it I lately saw in one 
 cage a particularly large lion and a particularly small 
 dog. The latter animal evidently considered himself 
 the master of the house, and acting in that capacity, 
 patronised his enormous companion in the most con- 
 descending manner. The spectators soon found out 
 the dog's propensities, and amused themselves by 
 pretending to assault the lion, whereupon the little 
 dog it was a dun-coloured terrier flew at the assail- 
 ants with the utmost fury, and barked at them until 
 weary, when he retired to the back of the cage, and 
 sitting down between the lion's huge paws, behind 
 which he was almost entirely concealed, surveyed the 
 scene with a consequential and lordly air. It was 
 once imagined that the lion would suffer no other 
 animals to live hi its cage; but now a cage full of 
 lions and leopards is no uncommon event, and I have 
 already mentioned an instance of a lion and tiger 
 inhabiting the same den. Once, a lion chose a very 
 singular associate. Some cruel-minded men wished 
 to witness a combat between a lion and a bear. A 
 large bear was accordingly let down into the lion's 
 den, and immediately flew at his foe. The lion, how- 
 ever, instead of retaliating, received the bear quietly, 
 and took it under his protection, watching with the 
 utmost jealousy every one who approached the cage, 
 and even gave to his strangely found friend the food 
 intended for himself. This latter circumstance is in 
 my opinion the most remarkable trait in the character 
 of this lion, for if there be any occasions on which the 
 savage nature of beasts breaks out it is while they 
 are being fed. Even the domestic cat is not always 
 safe to touch if she has in her mouth a newly caught 
 mouse, very few being sufficiently tame to suffer the
 
 LION. 59 
 
 prey to be meddled with. Of course I do not include 
 those animals which are mothers, and who, according 
 to their maternal instinct, divide the prey with their 
 young. 'The only instance in which I ever saw an 
 animal voluntarily divide its food with a friend oc- 
 curred some years ago, when a kangaroo, on receiving 
 a biscuit, broke it in two pieces and pushed one of 
 them to a companion inhabiting the same cage. 
 
 The most fearless, and, in consequence, the most 
 dangerous lions, are those who infest the most unin- 
 habited regions, where they have been accustomed to 
 roam, owning no master ; but where they have heard 
 the sound of the human voice, and witnessed the 
 irrevocable progress of man, they seem to own that 
 their master is near, and retreat in terror at the sound 
 of his dreaded voice. Some years since, a new line 
 of caravans was organised over the desert. During 
 the first few journeys lions were met, who knowing 
 no fear, and being accustomed to overcome every 
 animal in their country, boldly sprang upon the cara- 
 van, and did no inconsiderable harm to the beasts of 
 burden. In a very short time, however, they learned 
 caution, and carefully kept out of the way. This, by 
 the way, shows that animals must have some method 
 of communicating and spreading information. 
 
 I have already stated that in the Felidae the sense 
 of smell is much inferior to that of hearing, It is, 
 comparatively, but little exercised, the creature de- 
 pending more upon its sight and swiftness than its 
 powers of scent. Sometimes, when it can no longer 
 see its intended prey it brings its olfactory organs 
 into use, as the following anecdote will show. A 
 Hottentot, who was guarding a herd of oxen, was 
 endeavouring to drive his charge into a pool of water 
 enclosed between two ridges of rock. The animals 
 were unwilling to enter, and with good reason, for in 
 the midst of the pool there couched a huge lion. 
 The keeper very naturally took to his heels, and 
 having the presence of mind to recollect that a lion
 
 60 . ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 seldom troubles himself about a man, if he can get 
 hold of an ox, ran through the herd. The lion, how- 
 ever, who we must suppose was a man-eater, had not 
 the smallest intention of being put off with beef, 
 when he had made up his mind for man, and accord- 
 ingly broke through the herd, and gave chase to the 
 unfortunate Hottentot. 
 
 The man, on finding that the lion was pursuing 
 him, rushed to a tree, in the trunk of which some 
 steps had fortunately been cut, and sprang up just 
 in time to escape from a tremendous spring of 
 his pursuer. The steps had been cut in the tree 
 for the sake of reaching a large mass of the nests 
 of the sociable grosbeak. This bird acts much 
 on the same principle as the bees and wasps, 
 making a great number of separate nests, all under 
 one roof. Behind this building the Hottentot crept, 
 and after waiting some time for the lion to go away, 
 put his head round the nests to reconnoitre. To" his 
 great horror, he saw the lion looking up at the tree, 
 with eyes that, as the man said, flashed fire at him. 
 The lion did not evince any intention of moving, and 
 presently laid himself down at the foot of the tree 
 determined to secure the herdman. For twenty-four 
 hours the lion kept his watch, but at last, being 
 parched with thirst, he set off to a spring at some 
 distance in order to drink. The Hottentot then ven- 
 tured to descend, and ran as fast as he could to his 
 house, which was not more than a mile distant, where 
 he arrived in safety. It was well that he did make 
 haste, for it was found that after the lion had quenched 
 his thirst he had returned to the tree, and not finding 
 the man there, had followed up his track to within a 
 few hundred yards of his house. 
 
 When these animals are in their native state, they 
 have no opportunities of satisfying their hunger regu- 
 larly, as they have often to fast for several days after 
 they have consumed the prey already killed, and 
 before they can catch something else. It is, there-
 
 TIGEK. 61 
 
 fore, found necessary, when they are in captivity, 
 occasionally to keep them without food for a day once 
 a week, Sunday being their usual fast day. Water, 
 however, they require regularly, as in their native state 
 they never wander far from their well-known spring, 
 at which they are accustomed to quench their thirst 
 as soon as the sun goes down. 
 
 It is not generally known that the carnivorous 
 animals do not subsist entirely upon the flesh of the 
 larger animals, but make insects a large portion of 
 their food. Even the lion is a great consumer of 
 insects, which in his native woods are of a size that 
 renders them very substantial food. 
 
 TIGER* 
 
 THERE is rather a dearth of information respecting 
 this beautiful, although ferocious, animal, and it is 
 much to be wished that Mr. Gumming would make 
 India his next hunting-ground, and bring us back 
 from thence as graphic and interesting accounts of 
 the tiger as he has already brought of the lion from 
 Africa. 
 
 The tiger is an Asiatic animal, and is found plenti- 
 fully in Hindostan, where its chase affords magnificent 
 sport to the inhabitants. We have very few accounts 
 of tigers, except from those who have gone to the 
 chase in the usual manner, mounted high on ele- 
 phants' backs, and enjoying their sport in comparati /e 
 safety. We want somebody who will trace the tiger 
 to its den, or watch its nocturnal manoeuvres, after the 
 fashion of the hunter already mentioned, whose cool 
 matter-of-fact way of treating lions almost borders on 
 the ludicrous. I have before mentioned the incredu- 
 lity with which many individuals received some of his 
 accounts. The unbelief of these gentlemen who 
 " sat at home at ease " is by no means shared by the 
 
 * Tigris reyalis.
 
 G2 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 natives among whom he lived, and in whose presence 
 ( when they did not run away) he slaughtered many a 
 lion and rhinoceros. They look upon him as some 
 heing of another world, and not content with treasur- 
 ing up stories of the man, who delivered them from 
 their dreaded foes, or who fed hundreds of them for 
 days together a luxury almost beyond the compre- 
 hension of those wild tribes they relate sundry other 
 tales of him, among the least remarkable of which may 
 be reckoned the stoiy that he went to sleep one night 
 in a lion's den, and in the morning shot his host. 
 
 The elephants used hi hunting mostly stand in 
 great awe of the tiger until they are thoroughly 
 trained, as this active animal always aims at seizing 
 the trunk, which is the most sensitive part of the 
 elephant. The trunk is, therefore, either raised high 
 above the head, or kept curled up out of harm's way. 
 The principal danger of riding an untrained elephant 
 is, that it is very likely to turn round the moment it sees 
 the tiger, and run away as fast as it can, which conduct 
 sometimes deprives its rider of his proper share of the 
 sport, and sometimes gives him too much of it, as the 
 infuriated tiger has often been known to leap upon 
 the elephant's hind quarters, and from thence to make 
 its way to the howdah where the sportsmen sit. On 
 feeling the tiger's claws, the elephant usually shakes 
 itself with such vehemence that the hunters have 
 great difficulty in keeping their seat, and sometimes 
 do fall off. On one such occasion a gentleman fell 
 actually upon the tiger, who was so terrified at the 
 accident, that he permitted the hunter to escape with 
 no other injury except the fright and a bruise naturally 
 produced when two bodies meet together with a certain 
 momentum. 
 
 With the perverted taste common to all partly- 
 civilized nations, and which vanishes as civilization 
 proceeds, the Eastern rulers sometimes amuse them- 
 selves with tiger and elephant fights. In the follow- 
 ing anecdote of one of these performances, it will be
 
 TIGEB. 63 
 
 seen that the tiger had hardly fair play, while the idea 
 of punishing the rider of an elephant by incontinent 
 vapulation because his beast chose to run away, is 
 ludicrously Oriental. The story is given in an account 
 of Cochin China, by Mr. Crawford. " After tea was 
 served to us we were invited to be present at an ele- 
 phant and tiger fight, and for this purpose mounted 
 our elephant, and repaired to the glacis of the fort, 
 where the combat was to take place. The governor 
 went out at another gate, and arrived at the place 
 before us in his palanquin. When the hall broke up 
 a herald or crier announced the event. With the 
 exception of this ceremony great propriety and deco- 
 nim were observed throughout the audience. The 
 exhibition made by the herald, however, was truly 
 barbarous. He threw himself backward, projecting 
 his abdomen, and putting his hands to his side, and 
 in this absurd attitude uttered several long and loud 
 yells. The tiger had been exhibited in front of the 
 hall, and was driven to the spot on a hurdle. A great 
 concourse of people had assembled to witness the 
 exhibition. The tiger was secured to a stake by a 
 rope tied round his loins, about thirty yards long. 
 The mouth of the unfortunate animal was sewn up, 
 and his nails pulled out. He was of large size, and 
 extremely active. No less than forty-six elephants, all 
 males of great size, were seen drawn out in line. One 
 at a time was brought to attack the tiger. The first 
 elephant advanced, to all appearance, with a great 
 show of courage, and we thought from his determined 
 look that he would certainly have dispatched his 
 antagonist in an instant. At the first effort he raised 
 the tiger upon his tusks and threw him to the distance 
 of at least twenty feet. Notwithstanding this the 
 tiger rallied, and sprang upon the elephant's trunk 
 and head up to the very keeper who was upon the. 
 neck. The elephant took alarm, wheeled about, and 
 ran off, pursued by the tiger, as far as the rope would 
 allow him. The fugitive, although not hurt, roared
 
 64 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 most piteously, and no effort could bring him back to 
 the charge. A little after this we saw a man brought 
 up to the governor, bound with cords, and dragged 
 into his presence by two officers. This was the con- 
 ductor of the recreant elephant. A hundred strokes 
 of the bamboo were ordered to be inflicted on him 
 upon the spot. For this purpose he was thrown on 
 his face upon the ground, and secured by one man 
 sitting astride upon his neck and shoulders, and by 
 another sitting upon his feet, a succession of execu- 
 tioners inflicting the punishment. When it was over, 
 two men carried off the sufferer by the head and 
 heels, apparently quite insensible. While this outrage 
 was perpetrating, the governor coolly viewed the 
 combat of the tiger and elephant, as if nothing else 
 particular had been going forward. Ten or twelve 
 elephants were brought up in succession to attack the 
 tiger, which was killed at last merely by the astonish- 
 ing falls he received when tossed off the tusks of the 
 elephants. The prodigious strength of these animals 
 was far beyond anything I could have supposed. 
 Some of them tossed the tiger to a distance of at least 
 thirty feet, after he was nearly lifeless, and could offer 
 no resistance. We could not reflect, without horror, 
 that these very individual animals were the same that 
 have for years executed the sentence of the law upon 
 the many malefactors condemned to death. Upon 
 these occasions one toss, such as I have described, is 
 always, I am told, sufficient to destroy life." 
 
 It is impossible not to admire the courage of the 
 unfortunate tiger in this inhuman sport, who, although 
 bound by ropes, that of course restrained the move- 
 ments of an animal accustomed to perfect freedom of 
 every limb, his sharp claws cut off, and his mouth 
 barbarously sewn up, yet continued to attack his foes, 
 who were furnished with every possible advantage. 
 
 Yet, although the tiger exhibited such courage 
 towards his really formidable enemies, he might have 
 yielded without a struggle had he been opposed to a
 
 TIGER. 00 
 
 much more insignificant enemy a common mouse. 
 This may appear an extraordinary statement, but it is 
 carried out by the following anecdote related by Basil 
 Hall. There was a beautiful tiger kept in a cage at 
 Mysore, to whom the officers were indebted for many 
 hours snatched from " Miss Edgeworth's demon, foul 
 ennui;" for when they had nothing better to do 
 (which was usually the case), they amused themselves 
 by teasing the tiger. 
 
 " But what annoyed him far more than our poking 
 him up with a stick, or tantalising him with shins of 
 beef or legs of mutton, was introducing a mouse into 
 his cage. No fine lady ever exhibited more terror at 
 the sight of a spider than this magnificent royal tiger 
 betrayed on seeing a mouse. Our mischievous plan 
 was to tie the little animal by a string to the end of a 
 long pole, and thrust it close to the tiger's nose. The 
 moment he saw it he leaped to the opposite side ; 
 and when the mouse was made to run near him, he 
 jammed himself into a corner, and stood trembling 
 and roaring in such an ecstacy of fear that we were 
 always obliged to desist, from sheer pity to the poor 
 brute. Sometimes we insisted on his passing over 
 the spot where the unconscious little mouse ran back- 
 wards and forwards. For a long time, however, we 
 could not get him to move, till at length, I believe by 
 the help of a squib, Ave obliged him to start ; but, 
 instead of pacing leisurely across his den, or making 
 a detour to avoid the object of his alarm, he generally 
 took a kind of flying leap, so high as nearly to bring 
 his back in contact with the roof of his cage." 
 
 Supposing this animal had been captured in a net, 
 as related of the lion in the fable, would he have suf- 
 fered the mouse to help him out of the toils ? The 
 powerful and unaccountable antipathy related above 
 has its parallel in the case of an orang-outan, who, 
 when a small tortoise was introduced into his cage, 
 retreated to the farthest corner of the den, and stood 
 perfectly transfixed with horror, not daring to take its
 
 66 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 eyes off the dreadful visitant for a single moment. 
 Mrs. Lee tells us of a wild tiger actually frightened 
 away by a simple stratagem. Her brother had just 
 returned from die tent of a brother officer, when his 
 sen-ants came running up to him in a state o great 
 alarm, saying that a tiger was near. Having given the 
 alarm, they immediately ran away, leaving their master 
 alone in his garden, rather wishing to see tl| tiger than 
 otherwise. In a very short time the tiger actually did 
 make his appearance, and, stopping short in front of 
 the officer, began to growl, and then crouched in that 
 most ominous attitude assumed by a cat when about 
 to spring on a mouse. This convinced the officer 
 that he had not escaped the animal's observation, as 
 he had at first supposed ; and on the impulse of the 
 moment, he took off his big bear-skin grenadier's cap, 
 and putting it before his face, roared hi it, endeavour- 
 ing with some success to make his roar as different as 
 possible from that of honest Snug the joiner. The tiger, 
 naturally astounded at such an uncouth sound pro- 
 ceeding from such an uncouth object, turned tail and 
 leaped into a thicket. All danger being over, the 
 sen - ants courageously came to help their master with 
 drums and torches. Really the tiger's panic is not at 
 all to be wondered at. We English are proudly pre- 
 eminent among the nations for an execrable taste in 
 hats, the officers' foraging cap and the " wide-awake " 
 being the only exceptions ; and among these caps, 
 that of the grenadier is almost the most absurd, while 
 as a soldier's cap it is most senseless, its only recom- 
 mendation being that the wearer is forced to walk 
 very upright to prevent it from tumbling off. No 
 wonder, then, that a shapeless mass of black fur sud- 
 denly protruded in the tiger's face, and animated with 
 a rough voice reverberating in its wicker recesses, 
 should scare away an animal who was not sufficiently 
 civilised to be accustomed to such monstrosities. 
 
 The same writer heard from an eye-witness of the 
 scene, an anecdote showing that the tiger sometimes
 
 TIGEK. 67 
 
 snatches away his prey without springing. A gentle- 
 man was proceeding along a narrow, high-banked river, 
 in a covered boat, on the roof of which his principal 
 servant had gone to smoke. He did not long enjoy 
 his quiet and elevated position, for a tiger put its paw 
 out, dragged the man off the roof of the boat as it 
 passed, and carried him away into the jungle. 
 
 The tige& as well as the lion, has often permitted 
 the company of other animals in its cage ; and in one 
 instance, after it had made friends with a dog, 
 another was substituted, the precaution having been 
 taken to make the exchange after the tiger had been 
 fed. The second companion was welcomed as warmly 
 as the first, and was permitted to take all kinds of 
 liberties with its enormous friend, who even suffered 
 it to bark at and bite him without displaying the 
 slightest resentment. 
 
 It is a great mistake to imagine that the tiger is 
 morose and untameable, as it can be tamed quite as 
 easily as the lion, and displays as much affection for 
 its keeper, if he treats it kindly. Great care, how- 
 ever, must be taken with all these animals, as, even 
 although they are apparently quite tame, their savage 
 nature sometimes breaks out on very slight occasions, 
 even though they had previously endured great provo- 
 cations without complaint. Such was the case a short 
 time since, when the celebrated " lion queen " at 
 Wombwell's fell a victim to the sudden irritability of 
 the tiger. She had been forced to chastise the tiger for 
 some disobedience of orders, when the animal suddenly 
 turned upon her, grasped her by the throat, and, in a 
 very short time after she was taken out of the cage, 
 she died. Death in this case was probably as much 
 occasioned by fear as by the injuries inflicted by the 
 tiger, as, on examination, no wound was found that 
 would have caused death. In all probability, the 
 tiger had no intention of carrying his revenge so far, 
 but, unconscious of his strength, turned on his 
 assailant in a moment of irritability and bit at her, 
 
 r 2
 
 B8 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 with no more intention of killing her than a cat has 
 when she snaps at the hand that pulls her tail. The 
 effects, however, of the pat of a cat's paw, or the snap 
 of a cat's teeth, are very different from the effects of a 
 blow from a tiger's talons or the grasp of a tiger's jaws, 
 although they may be dealt with equally harmless in- 
 tentions. The strength of this creature is most 
 extraordinary, especially when we consider in what a 
 small compass it is comprised. 
 
 Captain Hall has given several very interesting 
 accounts of fights between the tiger and other animals. 
 One between a .tiger and a buffalo I shall quote entire, 
 as the description is so spirited that any attempt at 
 compression would spoil it. 
 
 " We were promised a grand day's sport one after- 
 noon, when a buffalo and a tiger were to be pitted 
 against each other. The buffalo entered the ring 
 composedly enough ; but after looking about him, 
 turned to one side, and rather pettishly, as if he had 
 felt a little bilious, overturned a vessel of water placed 
 there expressly for his use. The tiger refused for 
 some time to make his appearance, and it was not till 
 his den was filled with smoke and fire that he sprang 
 out. The buffalo charged his enemy in a moment, 
 and, by one furious push, capsized him right over. 
 To our great disappointment, the tiger pocketed this 
 insult in the shabbiest manner possible, and passing 
 on, leaped furiously at the ropes, with which his feet 
 became entangled, so that the buffalo was enabled to 
 punish his antagonist about the rump most in- 
 gloriously. When at length the tiger got loose he 
 slunk off' to a distant part of the area, lay down, and 
 pretended to be dead. The boys, however, soon put 
 him up again, and tried to bring him to the scratch 
 with squibs and crackers ; and a couple of dozen dogs 
 being introduced at the same moment, they all set at 
 him, but only one attempted to take any liberty with 
 the enraged animal. This bold dog actually caught 
 the tiger by the tail, but a slight pat of the mighty
 
 TIGER. 6 
 
 monster's paw crushed the yelping cur as flat as a 
 board. The buffalo, who really seemed anxious to 
 have a fair stand-up fight, now drove the dogs off, and 
 repeatedly poked the tiger with his nose, and even 
 turned him half over several times with his horns. 
 
 " As the gentleman showed no pluck, the rajah re- 
 quested one of us to step down to give him the coup- 
 de-grace. I accordingly loaded a musket which was 
 placed in my hands ; but on reaching the area I felt 
 rather unwilling to fire, as I just heard a story of a 
 gentleman who the year before, in firing at one of the 
 animals in the ring by the rajah's directions, not only 
 shot the animal, but also killed an old woman who 
 stood on the other side of the ring, the ball having 
 continued its course after piercing the tiger's head. 
 On my expressing a wish to try, in the first place, the 
 effect of cold iron upon his tough hide, a very sharp- 
 pointed spear was given me, and I tried with my 
 utmost force to pass it through his hide, but in vain. 
 He rose, however, on being pressed by the steel ; and, 
 by making a violent effort to clutch my hand, thrust 
 his head fairly through one of the meshes of the net, 
 to my no small dismay. Either the ropes were not 
 very strong or the seizings weak, for they began to 
 break ; and in the next minute, as it appeared to me, 
 the infuriated monster might have forced his whole 
 body through. In this emergency I quite forgot all 
 about humanity and old women, and, catching up the 
 musket, placed the muzzle of the piece at the tiger's 
 head, and blew out his brains in a moment." 
 
 So much for an actual fight, or rather for an in- 
 tended fight. On a previous occasion, the matter had 
 nearly taken a serious turn, had it not been for the 
 courage of a boy. A tiger was urged into the netted 
 court by the persuasive effects of a handful of lighted 
 squibs and crackers. On reaching the centre of the 
 ring, he was greatly bewildered by the shoutings, 
 drummings, and shriekings, that resounded on every 
 side, and was greatly put out by the evolutions of
 
 70 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 some donkeys within the ring, to whose tails blown 
 bladders filled with dried peas had been attached. 
 On finding the door of his cage shut, he flew at a 
 wooden figure of a man that had been stuck up in the 
 ring, and twisted its head off in an instant. Disco- 
 vering the cheat, he first tore the figure to pieces, and 
 then made a dash at the netting that hung by his 
 cage, up which he scrambled until his fore-paws were 
 placed on the roof, and another half-minute would 
 have found him loose among the assembled crowds. 
 Fortunately, a brave boy about twelve years of age 
 had perched himself on the top of the cage ; and the 
 moment the infuriated tiger showed his head above 
 the ropes, he struck it such a rap on the nose with a 
 short club which he had in his hand, that the animal 
 fell back head over heels into the inclosure. After 
 long badgering, the order was given to put the tiger to 
 death. One of the native chiefs then armed himself 
 with a bow and arrows, and discharged arrow after 
 arrow at him until he was bristling all over like a por- 
 cupine. At last the English officers, disgusted at the 
 lengthened torture, begged leave to try the effect of a 
 musket bullet, which laid him dead instantaneously, 
 although several arrows had passed completely through 
 him withqjjt producing any visible effect. 
 
 This kind of work was all very pleasant for the by- 
 standers, who could stand by in safety, and Avatch the 
 struggles of the combatants within the netted ring ; 
 nor were their nerves at all likely to be tried by such 
 proceedings. The rajah, however, who got up all these 
 amusements, determined on trying the nerves of his 
 English visitors a little more. He accordingly ordered 
 a ring to be formed, not of net, but of armed men, 
 within which he, his sons, and his visitors sat. Pre- 
 sently several men led two enormous tigers, only 
 restrained from springing on the inmates of the ring 
 by a few slight cords. At a sign from the rajah, 
 even these impediments were loosened, and the 
 keepers retired, leaving two tigers at perfect liberty
 
 TIGER. 71 
 
 within a few feet of the guests. After some time had 
 elapsed, the tigers \vere withdrawn, and a few lions 
 and buffaloes were introduced : when they came too close 
 the rajah's chair, the guards advanced, so as to put 
 them outside the ring, until they had driven the beasts 
 back, when they again retired. The lions and buffa- 
 loes were then succeeded by a tiger and a bear, who 
 were intended to fight in the open court. Neither party 
 appeared likely to begin the contest, even in spite of 
 all the kicks and thumps lavished upon the intended 
 combatants. " Tie them together," cried the rajah. 
 This brilliant notion was immediately carried into 
 execution, and the tiger and bear dragged each other 
 about in fine style. At last the tiger got veiy angry, 
 and looked as if he were about to make a dash at the 
 originator of his bondage. Suddenly changing his 
 course, he sprang across the court in which these 
 pranks were being played, and springing in at an open 
 window, commenced smashing the English furniture, 
 of which the rajah was exceedingly proud, and which 
 he had heaped together in a room, rejoicing in his 
 heart that he had accomplished an English drawing- 
 room. The tiger would have done more mischief, 
 had he not been brought up suddenly by the rope, to 
 the other end of which was attached the bear, who 
 having been drawn up half-way between the window 
 and the ground by the weight of the tiger, was dang- 
 ling outside in the most pitiable manner. The rajah, 
 however indifferent he might be to his own safety, was 
 not so callous to the fate of his furniture ; and he accord- 
 ingly had the tiger secured, and the rope cut by which 
 poor Bruin was suspended. The tiger was then 
 dragged off by main force, while the aggrieved bear 
 slunk off sulkily to his 'den of his own accord.
 
 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 LEOPARD.* 
 
 " THERE have been so many names devised for this 
 one beast, that it is grown a difficult thing either to 
 make a good reconciliation of the authors which are wed 
 to their several opinions, or else to define it perfectly 
 and make of him a good methodical history ; yet see- 
 ing the greatest variance hath arisen from words, and 
 that which was avowed at the first for the better ex- 
 planation and description of it, hath turned to the ob- 
 scuration and shadowing of the truth, I trust it shall 
 be a good labour to collect out of every writer that 
 which is most probable concerning this beast, and in 
 the end to express the best definition thereof we can 
 learn out of all." 
 
 This is the opinion of an author living three 
 hundred yeai'S ago ; and there has as yet been but 
 little improvement in this respect. The leopard, 
 the panther, the ounce, and the ocelot, were, until 
 very lately, considered as varieties of one species. 
 The ocelot and the ounce have for some time been 
 placed in their proper position in the scale of ani- 
 mated nature ; the only difficulty being between the 
 panther and the leopard. In this difficulty, the opinion 
 of the furriers was asked, as they were known to sell 
 panther skins as well as leopard skins those of the pan- 
 ther being larger, and the shape of their spots different. 
 The furriers, however, proved useless allies ; for their so- 
 called panther skins invariably turned out to belong to 
 the jaguar. The question is now supposed to be settled : 
 the leopai'd and panther being considered as one ani- 
 mal, under the name of Leopanlus variits, the ounce is 
 called Leopardiis uncia, and the ocelot is termed Leo- 
 pardiis pardalis. 
 
 The leopai'd, although much smaller than the tiger, 
 is a most formidable antagonist, and when wounded 
 is little less to be dreaded than the lion or tiger. 
 
 * Leopardus varius.
 
 LEOPABD. 73 
 
 Thus Gumming relates an anecdote of a gentleman 
 who, although armed and accompanied with armed 
 attendants, was very nearly killed by an enraged 
 leopard, and although he did escape with life, yet lost 
 the use of both his arms. 
 
 " In about an hour the natives came running to the 
 camp, and said that Orpen was killed by the leopard. 
 On further inquiry, however, I found that he was not 
 really killed, but frightfully torn and bitten about the 
 arms and head. They had rashly taken up the spoor 
 on foot, the dogs following behind them instead of 
 going in advance. The consequence of this was, that 
 they came right upon the leopard before they were 
 aware of him, when Orpen fired and missed him. 
 The leopard then sprang upon his shoulders, and 
 dashed him to the ground, and lay upon him howling 
 and lacerating his hands, arms, and head, most fear- 
 fully. Presently the leopard permitted Orpen to rise 
 and come away. Where were the gallant Present 
 and all the natives, that not a man of them hurried 
 to assist the unfortunate Orpen ? According to an 
 established custom among all colonial sen-ants, the 
 instant the leopard sprang, Present discharged his 
 piece in the air, and then dashing it to the ground, 
 he rushed down the bank, and jumped into the river, 
 along which he swam some hundred yards before he 
 would venture on terra Jirma. The natives, though 
 numerous and armed, had likewise fled in another 
 direction." 
 
 There is but little difference in the courage of natives, 
 whether African or Indian, each being always willing 
 to run away at the approach of a wild beast. If a tra- 
 veller is passing through an Indian forest, and the roar 
 of a tiger is heard near, the hearers immediately throw 
 down the palanquin, change their usual monotonous 
 grunt into an unearthly screaming, and scatter off in 
 every direction, leaving their master to his fate. After 
 the danger is past, they come back again, and if the 
 tiger has not eaten the traveller, they pick him up and
 
 74 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 proceed with their journey. Now, an equal number of 
 European servants would have proceeded calmly on 
 their course until the tiger came in sight, when they 
 would either have driven him off, or resisted his 
 attack; but the idea of abandoning their master 
 would never have entered their heads. This coward- 
 ice is partly occasioned by the Indian character, and 
 partly by the constant terror in which they have 
 always held these creatures. Many a European has 
 attacked a tiger merely through his ignorance of the 
 real power of -the creature; whereas, had he known 
 the strength and agility of the enemy he was pro- 
 voking, he would have considered the matter first. 
 Certainly, in the matter of such acquaintances as 
 tigers, leopards, and other similar creatures, fami- 
 liarity does not breed contempt. 
 
 So Captain Hall tells us that, when he first landed 
 through the surf, he thought it capital fun ; when he 
 had made several passages, he looked rather seriously 
 on the matter; but when he was thoroughly accus- 
 tomed to the surf, he had great doubts of getting 
 through at all, A year or two ago a pleasure boat 
 was on the sea, ruled by an old sailor. The sky began 
 to look suspicious, and he took in most of his sail. 
 Presently another boat came dancing along, heeling 
 almost gunwale under at every blast of wind. The 
 old sailor looked after the vessel for a minute, and 
 then muttered to himself, " They fears nothin' 'cos 
 they knows nothin'." I recollect extracting very much 
 the same opinion from the sailors on board a steamer. 
 It was the regular cockney voyage from Ramsgate to 
 Dover, and when we set out there was nothing but a 
 gentle breeze. This continued for some time, until 
 we got round the Foreland, when a regular gale rose, 
 and the waves rose accordingly. The steamer was a 
 little vessel, and danced about in splendid style, the 
 waves sweeping the entire deck. This was grand fun 
 for my sister and myself, and we packed ourselves in 
 the bows to get more of a pitch. The captain was of
 
 LEOPAKD. 75 
 
 a very different opinion ; and as we left the boat at 
 Dover, he muttered something to the effect that what- 
 ever we might have thought of it, he did not expect 
 to have got safe into harbour. 
 
 So with the wild beasts. A man who has only seen 
 a lion or tiger in a show, opposes himself to a lion or 
 tiger hi a wood with all the confidence in life, and 
 not unfrequently succeeds in destroying it, merely 
 from the courage given by an ignorance of danger. 
 
 There is a curious fact, which may be mentioned in 
 connection with this subject. However long Euro- 
 peans may reside in the hot countries, although they 
 may become hardened to the sight of wild beasts, 
 they never quite overcome their fear of snakes. Yet 
 the natives, who fly in such fear from animals that 
 inflict wounds which may be healed, pass with the 
 greatest indifference by the most deadly serpents, a 
 scratch from whose fangs results in certain death. 
 
 The leopards that we see tamed in cages are 
 either born in the menageries or are taken in a 
 kind of magnified mouse-trap. Of course when 
 the creature finds itself imprisoned, it makes a 
 great disturbance, and soon lets its captors know 
 that somebody is in their trap. It is compara- 
 tively easy to get a leopard into a trap, but getting 
 him out again is not quite so simple a matter. The 
 hunters generally manage this rather delicate business 
 by opening certain apertures in the boarded roof, 
 through which they let down slip-nooses, and gradu- 
 ally imprison all his legs. This part of the operation 
 completed, the door of the trap is opened, and another 
 cord thrown round his neck in spite of all his howl- 
 ings and kickings. He is then dragged out of the 
 cage, a strong muzzle fastened on his head, and thus 
 disarmed, is completely at the mercy of his enemies. 
 Leopards taken in this way are generally reserved for 
 the amusement of their conquerors. They, having 
 greater knowledge of the habits of the leopard, refrain 
 from confining it in a narrow den, but fasten it to a
 
 76 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 post by means of a rope, the other end of which is 
 attached to a kind of collar round the creature's loins, 
 just as we see them represented hi the Pompeian 
 paintings. In this state of semi-confinement, the leo- 
 pard is enabled to display his wonderful agility and 
 gracefulness of action with scarcely any impediment. 
 A leopard thus confined was seen by Lichtenstein, 
 a South African traveller, and the beauty of the ani- 
 mal, together with his graceful movements, moved 
 the traveller to rouse the animal to fresh energies by 
 pelting him with stones and otherwise insulting him. 
 Wishing to see in safety the manner in which a leopard 
 would conduct itself when attacked, he sent for some 
 dogs. Just as they were arriving, the leopard, being 
 hi a desperate passion, made such a violent spring at 
 his tormentors that the chain broke and left him at 
 perfect liberty. Off set Lichtenstein pursued by the 
 leopard, who made a tremendous spring at him. Pro- 
 bably from the weight of that part of the chain that 
 was still attached to him, the leopard sprang short, 
 and before another spring could be made, was seized 
 by the dogs, who dashed at his throat and ears. One 
 dog fell an immediate victim, being killed by one bite 
 on the head, but the others attacked the leopard with 
 such violence, and bit his throat with such success, 
 that they soon killed him. 
 
 The leopard is generally tamed without difficulty, 
 and appears more sportive than any other animal of 
 the same family. There are several young leopards 
 now in the Zoological Gardens, whose movements 
 among the bi'anches of the tree that is placed hi their 
 cage are most graceful. They spring about with such 
 rapidity that the eye can hardly follow their figures. 
 Suddenly one of them appears to be tired, and 
 crouches in some strange position, usually lying flat 
 along a branch, or packed into a forked branch, where 
 it lies very quietly until one of its companions comes 
 unsuspectingly by, when it springs up, gives its friend 
 a pat, and dashes off with more enei'gy than ever. In
 
 LEOPARD. 77 
 
 another menagerie where several animals were kept in 
 one cage, the leopards evidently considered that the 
 great object of the black tip of the lion's tail was to 
 afford them amusement. This being their opinion, 
 they acted up to it, and that unfortunate lion could 
 not even wag the end of his tail without a leopard 
 pouncing upon it. Even when he got up and walked 
 up and down his cage, keeping his tail perpendicularly 
 in the air to get it out of the way of his tormentors, 
 one leopard jumped up on a shelf near the top of the 
 cage, and hit the lion's tail a hard pat. every time he 
 passed under the shelf. 
 
 Any account of tame leopards would be imperfect 
 without a reference to the noted leopard Sai. This 
 interesting animal was so completely tamed that it 
 was suffered to roam about the house unwatched, its 
 favourite position being under a sofa, the only indica- 
 tions of his presence being a protruding paw, or an oc- 
 casional peep from behind the cover. Strangers were 
 naturally rather astonished when they saw so powerful 
 an animal at liberty, especially as the leopard ap- 
 peared to have gained entrance from the woods, and 
 hidden himself for no good purpose. Sai was a very 
 affectionate creature, and could not bear being sepa- 
 rated from his master. One day after the governor 
 (his master) had been engaged for many hours at a 
 conference, he Returned to his own room and began 
 to write. He presently heard Sai coming up stairs, 
 and on seeing the animal make a great spring upon 
 him, gave himself up for lost. The leopard only meant 
 to show his joy at again finding his master, whom he 
 had not been able to see all day on account of the 
 crowd, and by rubbing his cheek against his master's 
 head, endeavoured to show his affection. He was full 
 of play, and was by no means averse to a practical 
 joke, such as knocking over his attendant while sleep- 
 ing, or jumping on the back of a prah-prah woman, 
 as she was stooping down to clean the floor with her 
 little broom. The poor woman was of course in a
 
 78 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 terrible fright, never doubting that she was intended 
 to form a dinner for the leopard. Sai had no such 
 intention, 'but stood there in great glee, waving his 
 tail about, while the poor woman, not daring to stir, 
 screamed piteously. The servants came to see what 
 was the matter, but on seeing the state of affairs, they 
 set off as fast as they could, leaving the poor prah- 
 prah woman to her fate. So she screamed, and the 
 leopard wagged his tail, until the governor came and 
 released her. So perfectly tamed was this animal, 
 that the children used to fight with it for the posses- 
 sion of one of the windows, at which the leopard was 
 accustomed to stand with his chin resting between his 
 forepaws on the sill. On several occasions, the chil- 
 dren, finding him in their way, combined their forces 
 and pulled him down by the tail. 
 
 Sai was passionately fond of lavender water, a pre- 
 dilection discovered accidentally. While his master 
 was pouring some lavender water on his handker- 
 chief, Sai, who was sitting as usual with his head 
 resting on his master's shoulder, tore the handker- 
 chief out of his hands, and continued rolling over it, 
 until it was reduced to fragments. Before his social 
 qualities were known, he escaped from the yard where 
 he was kept, and rushed round the ramparts, scatter- 
 ing consternation hi his course. The castle gates were 
 closed, the officers who had doors shut them, and the 
 sentinels who had none, ran away, and there was a 
 terrible disturbance until the playful creature had 
 wearied himself with his scamper, when he lay down 
 under a gun-carriage, and suffered himself to be led 
 away to his proper quarters. His life terminated in 
 England in a rather curious way. Sai was sent to Eng- 
 land, and we are told that, when he reached the ship, 
 he was completely cowed and subdued, for his cage 
 had been placed in a canoe, the crew of which were 
 so frightened when he moved, that they contrived to 
 upset the whole affair, and poor Sai got a thorough 
 ducking. Moreover he seemed to suffer from sea-sick-
 
 LEOPARD. 79 
 
 ness, and certainly did suffer from the wet state of his 
 cage, for no one dared open it or attempt to wipe it 
 out. So he lay curled up in a corner, and did not 
 stir until he heard the voice of his mistress. At the 
 well-known sounds he immediately sprang up, danced 
 about his cage, rolled backwards and forwards, and 
 howled tremendously from pure joy. After that time 
 he got on very well until the ship was boarded by 
 pirates, who took away almost all their provisions, so 
 that Sai must have starved had it not been for a large 
 number of parrots on board, among whom there was 
 a great mortality. One parrot per diem was his sub- 
 sistence hardly enough to keep him from starving ; 
 and his sensations being very like those of our friend 
 Oliver, when depicted as asking for more, he devoured 
 his food so ravenously, that he swallowed the feathers 
 together with the bird. This naturally made him ill, 
 but he recovered after a copious exhibition of calomel. 
 During the voyage, he was taught to keep his claws to 
 himself by a very simple process. His love for laven- 
 der water has already been recorded. His mistress 
 was accustomed to give him a daily allowance of a 
 little lavender water in a paper dish. He was so 
 eager to obtain this boon, that he used to strike at 
 the dish with his claws ; but when he found that the 
 perfume was withheld until he had drawn in his 
 claws, he soon learned to put out his foot while 
 his claws were withdrawn. On his arrival in Eng- 
 land, he was presented to the Duchess of York, 
 who had him kept at Exeter Change, the former 
 residence of the wild beasts, until he could be 
 taken to his home. One morning, his new mistress 
 called to see him, and played with him, when he 
 appeared to be in his usual health ; but at evening, 
 when the coachman called for him, he was found dead. 
 His disease was supposed to be that to which most 
 exotic animals are subject when they arrive in our 
 damp cold climate, inflammation of the lungs. 
 Not long since I was at Wombwell's collection, and
 
 80 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 wondered how the animals could be transferred to 
 their separate dens. There was one particularly 
 ferocious-looking black leopard, who had changed its 
 residence during the night, and had on, indeed, a 
 muzzle and chain. As during my boyish days I 
 had often tried unsuccessfully to muzzle the cat, I 
 inquired from the keeper how he managed such 
 animals as the leopard. The method was as follows. 
 A ladder was laid upon the animal, through which, 
 after turning on its back, it thrust its legs. A pitch- 
 fork was then placed upon its neck, and the points 
 fixed firmly into the ground. The leopard was then 
 helpless, for several men added their weight to the 
 ladder, while the man with the pitchfork took great 
 care of its head. The muzzle was then put on with 
 perfect ease, and the animal shifted to another den. 
 
 I will conclude this account of the leopard with 
 Topsell's description of the method by which the 
 leopard obtains its prey. I may observe that the 
 jaguar is much more given to monkey-eating than the 
 leopard, and it is not at all improbable that Topsell 
 has confused accounts of the two animals. " They 
 ravin upon flesh both birds and beasts, for which 
 cause they hide themselves in trees, usually in moun- 
 tains, where they are not very swift of foot, and there- 
 fore they give themselves to take apes, which they 
 attain by this policy; when they see the apes they 
 make after them, who at their first approaching climb 
 up into the tops of trees, and there sit to avoid the 
 panther's teeth, for she is not able to follow them so 
 high; but yet she is more cunning than the apes, and 
 therefore deviseth more shifts to take them, that 
 where nature hath denied her bodily power there she 
 might supply that want by the gifts of the minde. 
 Forth therefore she goeth, and under the tree where 
 the apes are lodged she lyeth down as though she 
 were dead, stretching out her limbs and restraining 
 her breath, shutting her eyes, and shewing altogether 
 tokens of expiration. The apes that sit on the top
 
 LEOPARD. 81 
 
 of the tree behold from on high the behaviour of their 
 adversary, and because all of them wish her dead, the 
 more easily believe that which they so much desire, 
 and yet dare not descend to make tryal. Then to 
 end their doubts they choose onit from among them 
 all whom they think to be of the best courage, him 
 they send down as it were for an espy to certifie all 
 the residue, forth then he goeth with a thousand 
 fears in his minde, and leapeth from bough to bough 
 in no great haste (for dread of an ill bargain), yet 
 being come down dareth not come nigh, but having 
 taken a view of the counterfeit and repressed his own 
 fear returneth back again. After a little space he 
 descendeth a second time and cometh nearer the 
 panther than before, but returneth without touching 
 him. Then he descendeth the third time, looking 
 into his eyes, and maketh trial whether he draweth 
 breath or no, but the panther keepeth both breath 
 and limbs immoveable, by that means emboldning 
 the apes to their own destruction, for the spie ape 
 sitteth down beside the panther and stirrethnot; now 
 when those which are above in the tree see how their 
 intelligencer abideth continually beside their adver- 
 sary without harm, they gather their spirits together 
 and descend in great multitudes, running about the 
 panther, first of all going upon him and afterwards 
 leaping with great joy and exultation, mocking their 
 adversary with all their apish toys and testifying their 
 joy for her supposed death. And in this sort the 
 panther suffereth them to continue a great season till 
 she perceiveth they are thoroughly wearied, and then 
 upon a sudden she leapeth up alive again, taking 
 some of them in his claws, destroying and killing 
 them with his teeth and nails, till he have prepared 
 for himself a rich dinner out of his adversaries' flesh. 
 And like as Ulysses endured all the contumelies and 
 reproaches of both his maids and wives' suitors, 
 until he had a just occasion given him of revenge, 
 so doth the panther the disdainful dealings of the
 
 82 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 apes ; whereupon came the proverb, ' Pardi mortem 
 tlissimulat; Thanaton pardaleos hypocrinetai,' against 
 a cunning dissembling fellow, such an one as Brutus 
 was, who counterfeated madness that he might get 
 the Empire." 
 
 JAGUAR* 
 
 THE animals already mentioned belong to the Old 
 World, but there are two of the same family inhabiting 
 America particularly worthy of notice. These are the 
 jaguar and the puma. The jaguar is very like the 
 leopard, but is considerably larger, and may be easily 
 distinguished from that animal by the appearance of 
 the spots, which are larger than those of the leopard, 
 and are composed of a black spot surrounded by 
 several others. There is also a black streak across 
 the chest. 
 
 It feeds principally on monkeys, and possesses 
 such activity that it can often catch them in a fair 
 chase among the branches. In consequence, the 
 monkeys hold it in supreme terror, and take to flight 
 the moment they hear its cry. We may suppose that 
 the monkeys have not so much intellect as has been 
 supposed, or no jaguar would be able to attack them. 
 As an example of the superiority of man over the 
 beasts, we may cite the well-known example of the 
 man who met a jaguar in his path. He looked at 
 the jaguar, and the jaguar looked at him, but after a 
 short time, a sudden impulse seized him, and he 
 took off his wide-trimmed hat, and bowing low to 
 the animal, wished him a very good morning. The 
 jaguar looked very much astonished, turned round, 
 and walked away. An analogous anecdote is related 
 of a tiger who met an Indian servant, and, on the 
 man's request to let him pass, as he was on important 
 business, walked off and left the path free. 
 
 The jaguar's mode of killing its prey differs from 
 * Leopardus Onca.
 
 JAGUAR. 
 
 83 
 
 that of the other Felidee. The usual method is 
 to kill it either hy a severe blow, or by tearing open 
 the victim's throat. The jaguar takes quite another 
 course. He springs upon the back of his prey, and 
 placing one paw on the back of the unfortunate 
 animal's head and another on its mouth, gives the 
 head a sudden twist, which instantly dislocates the 
 neck. Like most wild animals, the jaguar would 
 rather avoid man than attack him, except when 
 pressed with hunger, at which time it is exceed- 
 ingly dangerous. There is a very interesting story 
 respecting the perseverance of this animal in obtain- 
 ing its food. The inhabitants of a log-hut in the 
 western States of America had gone out, having 
 closed the door of their hut, in which a piece of 
 freshly-killed .venison was hanging. Near the top 
 of the hut a small aperture was left in the gable, 
 for the purpose of admitting light and air. This 
 aperture was so high that when the settlers, a man 
 and his wife, left the hut, they did not think that 
 there was any necessity for closing it. A hungry 
 jaguar happened to come by, and sniffed out the 
 meat. So he contrived to scramble up the end of the 
 hut, and to jump in at the aperture. He then made 
 his way to the venison, and commenced making a 
 repast on it. The return of the owners disturbed 
 him, and he took his departure. The man, dis- 
 covering what had happened, took away the venison, 
 imagining that, as the cause of the visitation was re- 
 moved, the jaguar would not trouble himself to come 
 back. That night, he was obliged to leave that part of 
 the country and go to a distance, leaving his wife to 
 take care of the hut. The man was mistaken in his 
 supposition, that when the venison was gone the 
 jaguar would not enter the house, for when evening 
 came, the jaguar came too, and scrambled in at the 
 open gable as before. The poor woman was of course 
 in a great fright, as sire had no means of protecting 
 herself. At last, by screaming with all her might, 
 
 G 2
 
 84 ANECDOTES OF AMMAL LIFE. 
 
 and making every noise she could think of, she suo- 
 jceeded hi frightening the animal away for a time, but 
 she knew well that he would come again soon, and 
 searched for some method of protection. Just as she 
 heard the jaguar again climbing up the house, she 
 bethought herself of a great store-chest, fastening with 
 ft spring, into which she got, and pulled down the lid, 
 keeping her fingers between the lid and the side of 
 the chest, lest she should be suffocated for want of air. 
 
 Very soon the jaguar came into the room, and 
 before long discovered her hiding place. He tried to 
 push his head into the chest, but could not raise the 
 lid, nor could his paws obtain entrance. Presently 
 he discovered her fingers, and began to lick them with 
 his rough tongue. They soon began to bleed, but 
 she dared not move them lest the spring-lock of the 
 chest should close. Not being able to do any good at 
 the side of the box, he jumped upon the lid, and by 
 his weight broke the poor woman's fingers. For a 
 long time he continued these efforts, smelling round 
 the chest, trying to force it open, licking the pro- 
 truding fingers, and leaping on and off, but at last, 
 finding all his endeavours useless, he went away. 
 His intended victim dared not leave the chest until 
 daybreak, when she ran as fast as she could to her 
 nearest neighbours, where she procured help. On 
 her husband's return he seai'ched for the jaguar, and 
 found a pair, together with their cubs, in the forest 
 close to the house, and destroyed them all. 
 
 It is a cowardly animal, and fears to attack any one 
 who may possibly retaliate. Waterton made the ac- 
 quaintance of a jaguar in rather a curious manner. 
 He had contrived to get the skin of his feet so scorched 
 by the sun that at night they were covered with blisters, 
 and he was unable to sleep. While tossing restlessly 
 in his hammock a jaguar came and looked at his 
 party, but evidently considered them rather too strong 
 for him. He was unwilling to leave them, and kept 
 hovering about them all night, sometimes coming
 
 JAGUAK. 85 
 
 within the glare of the fire, and sitting on his haunches 
 like a cat, and sometimes walking round the spot 
 where Mr. Waterton's hammock was slung, but always 
 keeping at a respectful distance. 
 
 Perhaps he did not consider the travel-hardened, 
 sun-dried traveller in the hammock so tempting as 
 another jaguar found some priests. The animal 
 had contrived to get into the church of Santa 
 Fe, and as we may suppose he found nothing 
 there but church mice, whose leanness is prover- 
 bial, he was naturally disposed to look out for some- 
 thing more substantial. Accordingly, a decidedly 
 substantial padre did enter the church, and was imme- 
 diately killed by the jaguar. His absence causing 
 some suspicion, a coadjutor went into the church to 
 look after him, but was as unaccountably delayed as 
 his predecessor. After some time another padre went 
 in search of the missing two, and was instantly ap- 
 prised of the cause of his predecessors' absence by 
 the appearance of the jaguar, who sprang at him also. 
 The animal, however, had become lazy after his former 
 exertion, and had probably made a meal on the bodies 
 of the two unfortunate men whom he had killed, so 
 that, by dodging about from pillar to pillar, the third 
 padre succeeded in making his escape. No one could 
 be found who was willing to enter the fatal building, 
 so the people unroofed a corner of the church, and 
 shot the jaguar without difficulty. 
 
 The jaguar is possessed of a discriminating palate, 
 and devours great numbers of turtles. Tortoises, 
 turtles, and all that race, are popularly supposed to 
 be impregnable to all but mankind and the boa con- 
 strictor. According to Sidney Smith, man catches 
 them and roasts them, while the boa constrictor swal- 
 lows them, shell and all, and consumes them slowly 
 in the interior, as Chancery does a large estate. There 
 is, however, another enemy with whom they have to 
 contend. Impervious as the turtle's shell may be, 
 and safely as he may draw in his head, yet the jaguar
 
 80 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 is more than a match for him. The eggs of the turtle 
 are laid in the sand. Therefore the jaguar comes to 
 the sand too, and when he sees a turtle fairly away 
 from the water, he rushes at it, and cleverly turns it 
 on its hack. Having thus rendered the creature help 
 less, the jaguar contrives to insinuate his paw between 
 the shells, and scrapes out the whole of the interior, 
 cutting away the muscles as if they had been severed 
 with a knife. Then, when he has finished the turtle, 
 he takes a turn at the eggs, scratching them out of the 
 sandy pit where the mother had placed them. But 
 the jaguar does not waste his strength merely upon 
 turtles or turtles' eggs, but even attacks the horses 
 which run wild in many parts of America, and is 
 strong enough not only to kill them, but even to drag 
 them away for a considerable distance. A single 
 jaguar has been known to swim across one of the 
 broad American rivers, seize a dead horse that had 
 been laid down as a bait, drag it to the river's edge, 
 swim across with it in his mouth, and afterwards 
 carry it up the opposite bank and away into the 
 woods. 
 
 We have already seen how the jaguar prefers two 
 courses for dinner, turtle and venison ; it only remains 
 that he should rival the civilisation of man by adding 
 a third course, namely, fish. Now the jaguar being of 
 a discriminating palate, does prefer a fish course now 
 and then, and accordingly goes to the places where 
 fish live, i. e. to the rivers. There he waits in the 
 shallow waters, remaining quite motionless, until a 
 tolerably-sized fish passes by, when a sharp blow of 
 his ever-ready paw sweeps the fish out of its native 
 element and leaves it floundering on the bank. The 
 successful fisher immediately springs on it before its 
 struggles have again brought it to the water, and car- 
 ries it off. 
 
 When young this animal is as playful as a kitten, 
 and is not at all particular in the choice of its play- 
 fellows. There was a jaguar, a young one, lying
 
 JAGUAR. 87 
 
 calmly at the mouth of his den, at whom some dogs 
 were sent. The animal, who had just made a hearty 
 meal, and was in great good humour in consequence, 
 instead of annihilating the dogs and springing upon 
 their master, began to play with them in spite of their 
 attacks. The hunter, however, meant to enrich him- 
 self with a jaguar skin, so he roused the lazy animal 
 by a bullet in the shoulders. His play was instantane- 
 ously changed to rage, and he sprang so quickly upon 
 his assailant, that, although the hunter had a spear 
 ready in rest, the impetus of the animal was so great 
 that it transfixed itself on the weapon, and fairly 
 knocked the man over on the ground. The two rolled 
 on the ground together, and the jaguar all but suc- 
 ceeded in seizing its enemy's throat, when just at the 
 critical moment the fire in the jaguar's eyes went out, 
 and it fell upon the hunter quite dead. Another 
 example of the playfulness of this animal is related 
 by Hiimboldt. 
 
 NearSan Indian village on the banks of the Orinoco 
 two iiauVe children were sitting, when a jaguar 
 issued ir6iiiNt;he forest and approached them. He 
 came up\to v thjem quietly, playing all manner of 
 tricks like 'a kitten with a new plaything. At one 
 time he gambolled about them, and then hid among 
 the long grass, x and- at last began to play with the little 
 boy, patting him on the side of the head. The child 
 felt no fear, and suffered his strange playfellow to 
 continue his pranks, "until at last the claws of the 
 jaguar wounded the \flmli and caused the blood to 
 flow. His sister, who a^sV wapears to have been equally 
 devoid of fear, took up V^ranch of a tree that lay 
 - near, and began to beat theVjaguar, as, ittall probability, 
 she had seen her friends beat a dog that had behaved 
 badly, and, curiously enough, the jaguar, betraying 
 no irritation, began to run away, and on the approach 
 of some Indians bounded off into the forest. 

 
 88 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 PUMA. * 
 
 THE puma is another American leopard. It differs 
 from all its congeners in the colour of its fur, which, 
 instead of the beautiful variegated spots that decorate 
 their bodies, presents an uniform silvery grey above, 
 fading into white on the under parts of the body and 
 the inside of the limbs, precisely like the " tan " in a 
 black and tan terrier. As a rule, all the cat tribe are 
 brindled, spotted, or striped, except in a very few 
 instances, such as the lion and puma, and even in 
 these there are signs of markings in their fur, espe- 
 cially when young, at which time the cubs both of the 
 lion and puma exhibit markings, those of the lion 
 being striped, and those of the puma both striped 
 and spotted. As the cubs grow older, the spots and 
 stripes become fainter, and at last disappear entirely, 
 or at least can only be observed in certain lights and 
 by very sharp eyes. 
 
 The name Puma is said to be a native name ; if so it 
 is much more euphonous than its other Mexican names, 
 Gouazuara and Cuguacura, from the latter of which 
 the term Cougar has been contracted. This name is 
 mostly used by the French, the Anglo-American title 
 being " panther " (or more familiarly " painter "), by 
 which name it is very commonly called. It is ex- 
 tremely powerful, its limbs being very thick, and pos- 
 sesses a. strength which the small size of its head 
 would not lead the observer to suspect. It is essen- 
 tially an arboreal animal, and contrives so to assimi- 
 late itself to the bark of the branches, that in spite of 
 its large size it can lie concealed along a branch. 
 Even in captivity, when the spectator knows that the 
 creature is hi the den, he has often some difficulty in 
 discovering the puma, as it lies either packed up in 
 the fork of a branch or stretched along it quite flat, 
 with its chin resting on its fore-paws, and only an 
 
 * Leopurdus concolor.
 
 PUMA. CAT. 89 
 
 occasional blink of the eyelids or twitch of the ears 
 giving signs of life. 
 
 The puma is easily tamed, and is very play- 
 ful. The celebrated actor Edmund Kean possessed 
 a puma which would follow him about like a dog, 
 and was so gentle that it was frequently permitted to 
 appear in a room full of strangers. Its whole life 
 presents a close resemblance to that of Sai, the 
 African leopard already described, even to the circum- 
 stances of breaking loose one day. The scene of the 
 leopard's escapade was in a fort, and little damage 
 could have been done, but the puma escaped into the 
 streets of London, and might have done extraordinary 
 mischief, had it been so disposed. A watchman took 
 the playful animal into custody and restored it to its 
 owner. 
 
 The flesh of this animal is eaten, and is said to 
 resemble veal. Many a prejudiced Englishman, visit- 
 ing France with a deeply-rooted British horror of 
 frogs and wooden shoes, has met wooden shoes with- 
 out recognising them, and been induced to partake 
 heartily of frog without discovering the nature of the 
 dish. In like manner, Mr. Darwin suddenly found 
 out that he had been supping upon puma unawares. 
 Many natives agree in saying that the flesh of the cat is 
 excellent. I can say from personal experience that it 
 is not at all bad, and is not unlike rabbit, being white 
 and dry; but probably my method of cooking was not 
 quite according to Soyer, or it might have turned out 
 quite a superior dish. 
 
 Having shown that the cat possesses one agreeable 
 quality, that of making a tolerable roast if necessary, 
 we will try to find some further good qualities. 
 
 CAT.* 
 
 THE origin of our domestic cat is very uncertain. 
 Some think that the wild cat is the original stock 
 
 * Fells domestica.
 
 90 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 from whence all the varieties of the domesticated 
 mousers sprang. This is very unlikely, if not alto- 
 gether impossible. In the first place, the tail of the 
 wild cat is short, and very bushy, while that of the 
 tame animal is long and tapering. This peculiarity 
 is not removed by domestication, for many cats of the 
 wild breed that have been tamed, transmitted their 
 peculiar form of tail to their posterity, while tame 
 cats which have got loose into the woods, and have 
 bred there for years, are found still to possess the 
 tapering tails derived from their ancestors. Moreover, 
 the mummies of Egyptian cats are found to possess 
 the elongated tapering tail, which is also represented 
 on their monuments. 
 
 The wild cat is rather scarce in England, but is 
 frequently found in wooded places in Scotland. It is 
 a very fierce animal, and displays more aggressive 
 powers than would have been expected from an ani- 
 mal so small. The following account of a " scrim- 
 mage " with a wild cat is taken from Mr. St. John's 
 "^Highland Sports :" 
 
 " The true wild cat is gradually becoming extir- 
 pated, owing to the increasing preservation of game ; 
 and though difficult to hold in a trap, in consequence 
 of its great strength and agility, he is by no means 
 difficult to deceive, taking any bait readily, and not 
 seeming to be as cautious in avoiding danger as many 
 other kinds of vermin. Inhabiting the most lonely 
 and inaccessible ranges of rock and mountain, the 
 wild cat is seldom seen during the daytime ; at night, 
 like its domestic relative, he prowls far and wide, 
 walking with the same deliberate step, making the 
 same regular and even track, and hunting its game in 
 the same tiger-like manner; and yet the difference 
 between the two animals is perfectly clear and visible 
 to the commonest observer. The wild cat has a 
 shorter and more bushy tail, stands higher on her 
 legs in proportion to her size, and has a rounder and 
 coarser look about the head. The strength and
 
 CAT. 91 
 
 ferocity of the wild cat, when hemmed in or hard 
 pressed, are perfectly astonishing. The hody when 
 skinned presents quite a mass of sinew and carti- 
 lage. I have occasionally, though rarely, fallen in 
 with these animals in the forests and mountains of 
 this country. Once, when grouse shooting, I came 
 suddenly, in a rough and rocky part of the ground, 
 upon a family of two old ones and three half-grown 
 ones. In the hanging birch woods that border some 
 of the Highland streams and rocks, the wild cat is 
 still not uncommon ; and I have heard their wild and 
 unearthly cry echo far in the quiet night, as they 
 answer and call to each other. I do not know a more 
 harsh and unpleasant cry than that of the wild cat, or 
 one more likely to be the origin of superstitious fears 
 in the mind of an ignorant Highlander. These ani- 
 mals have great skill in finding their prey, and the 
 damage they do to the game must be very great, 
 owing to the quantity of food which they require. 
 When caught in a trap, they fly, without hesitation, 
 at any person who approaches them, not waiting to 
 be assailed. I have heard many stories of their at- 
 tacking and severely wounding a man, when their 
 escape has been cut off Indeed, a wild cat once 
 flew at me in the most determined manner. I was 
 fishing at a river in Sutherlandshire, and in pass- 
 ing from one pool to another had to climb over some 
 rocky and broken kind of ground. In doing so, I 
 sank through some rotten heather and inoss up to my 
 knees almost upon a wild cat, who was concealed 
 under it. I was quite as much startled as the animal 
 herself could be, when I saw the wild-looking beast 
 so unexpectedly rush out from between my feet, with 
 every hair on her body standing on end, making her 
 look twice as large as she really was. I had three 
 small Skye terriers with me, who immediately gave 
 chase, and pursued her till she took refuge in a corner 
 of the rocks, where, perched in a kind of recess out 
 of reach of her enemies, she stood with her hair
 
 92 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 bristled out, and spitting and growling like a common 
 cat. Having no weapon with me, I laid down my 
 rod, cut a good-sized stick, and proceeded to dislodge 
 her. As soon as I was within six or seven feet of the 
 place, she sprang straight at my face, over the dogs' 
 heads. Had I not struck her in mid air as she leaped at 
 me, I should probably have got some severe wound. 
 As it was, she fell with her back half broken amongst 
 the dogs, who, with my assistance, dispatched her. I 
 never saw an animal fight so desperately, or one which 
 was so difficult to kill. If a tame cat has nine lives, 
 a wild cat must have a dozen. Sometimes one of 
 these animals takes up his residence at no great dis- 
 tance from a house, and entering the hen-houses and 
 out-buildings, carries off fowls or even lambs in the most 
 audacious manner. Like other vermin, the wild cat 
 haunts the shores of the lakes and rivers, and it is, 
 therefore, easy to know where to lay a trap for them. 
 Having caught and killed one of the colony, the rest 
 of them are sure to be taken, if the body of their 
 slain relative is left in some place not far from their 
 usual hunting ground, and surrounded with traps, as 
 every wild cat who passes within a considei'able dis- 
 tance of the place will to a certainty come to it. The 
 same plan may be adopted successfully in trapping 
 foxes, who also are sure to visit the dead body of any 
 other fox, which they scent during their nightly walk. 
 There is no animal more destructive than a common 
 house cat, when she takes to hunting in the woods. 
 In this case they should always be destroyed, as when 
 once they have learnt to prefer hares and rabbits to 
 rats and mice, they are sure to hunt the larger ani- 
 mals only. I believe, however, that by cropping their 
 ears close to the head, cats may be kept from hunting, 
 as they cannot bear the dew or rain to enter these 
 sensitive organs. Tame cats, who have once taken to 
 the woods, soon get shy and wild, and then produce 
 their young in rabbit-holes, decayed trees, and other 
 quiet places, thus laying the foundation of a half-wild
 
 CAT. 93 
 
 race. It is worthy of notice, that whatever colour the 
 parents of these semi- wild cats may have been, those 
 bred out of them are almost invariably of the same 
 beautiful brindled grey colour as the wild cats. A shep- 
 herd, whose cat had come to an untimely end by trap 
 or gun, I forget which in lamenting her death to me, 
 said it was a great pity so valuable an animal should 
 be killed, as she brought him every day in the year 
 either a grouse, a young hare, or some other head of 
 game. Another man told me that his cat brought to 
 the house during the whole winter a woodcock or a 
 snipe almost every night, showing a propensity for 
 hunting in the swamps and wet places near which 
 the cottage was situated, and Avhere these birds were 
 in the habit of feeding during the night. A favourite 
 cat of my own once took to bringing home rabbits 
 and hares, but never winged game. Though con- 
 stantly caught in traps, she could never be cured of 
 her hunting propensities. When caught in an iron 
 trap, instead of springing about and struggling, and 
 by this means breaking or injuring her legs, she used 
 to sit quietly down and wait to be let out. There is a 
 cat at the farm now, who is caught at least twice a 
 week ; but from adopting the same plan of waiting 
 quietly and patiently to be liberated she seldom gets 
 her foot much hurt." 
 
 The domestic cat will excite our sympathies much 
 more than the wild one, however interesting the latter 
 animal may be in a zoological point of view. Ac- 
 counts of the natural instincts of animals are veiy 
 valuable ; but it is even more interesting to see how 
 that portion of reason implanted in animals can over- 
 come their natural instincts whenever the occasion 
 requires. 
 
 While I was at college as an undergraduate, the 
 bakehouse cat attached herself to me, and was invari- 
 ably in the habit of coming to my rooms morning and 
 evening for her breakfast and supper. She seemed 
 really to partake more of the nature of the dog than
 
 94 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 of the cat, for she would suffer me to take from her 
 the mice which she had caught, even while they were 
 alive. She was on remarkably good terms with my 
 dog Rory, who was quite a character in his way, and 
 would use him as a convenient cushion to lie upon, 
 and apparently considered that his ears were made as 
 playthings for herself and her kittens. The only 
 thing that disturbed her equanimity was when Rory 
 chose to partake of her saucer of milk. She evidently 
 perceived that the division was not a fair one, and 
 remonstrated most vigorously, but even then never 
 got angry. Her first family of kittens was a source 
 of great pride to her, and was announced to me in 
 rather a singular manner. The cat had absented 
 herself from my table for several days, nor was she to 
 be seen about the college. This was so unusual a 
 circumstance, that I began to get uneasy about her, 
 fearing that she might have shared the tragical fate of 
 her predecessor. One evening, however, about her 
 usual time of appearing, she scratched at the door as 
 usual, and came in. When I sat down, she jumped 
 on my knee, put a tiny blind kitten into my hand, 
 and paced about the floor in a decidedly majestic way, 
 every now and then uttering a short mew. Nothing 
 would induce her to take her offspring back again, so 
 I took it to its brothere and sisters myself, its mother 
 walking before me with her tail held quite perpendicu- 
 larly. That same evening, when I went into my bed- 
 room, I found a small black kitten fast asleep on the 
 bed. 
 
 Her predecessor was equally attached to me, but 
 met with an untimely end. I missed it from its ac- 
 customed post at my table, and inquired from the 
 sen-ant where it was. " Cat, sir," he replied, with all 
 the nonchalance in the world ; " the cat, sir ; it 's been 
 baked these three days, sir." I was naturally rather 
 astonished at this circumstance, and thought that 
 possibly some enthusiastic reader of Chinese manners 
 might have had the cat cooked as an experiment. The
 
 CAT. 95 
 
 poor animal, however, had escaped that danger, but 
 had been accessary to its own destruction in another 
 manner. It had been induced, by the warmth of the 
 oven, to creep into one of the corners, and there had, 
 in all probability, fallen asleep. There, however, it 
 was found, coiled up in a corner, and completely 
 baked. It must have died from suffocation, as it did 
 not move while the oven was being newly heated, and 
 was probably dead before the oven was opened for 
 that purpose ; at all events, its attitude was that which 
 a sleeping cat assumes. 
 
 After these lines had been printed, an account was 
 sent to me of another cat, who had met with its death 
 in a similar manner. The owner of the poor animal, 
 wishing to show to his friends that the cat must have 
 probably died without pain, learnedly remarked, that 
 before the creature died, " skumnfication " must have 
 taken place. 
 
 The fondness of cats for certain scents is well 
 known. Their taste in this respect is rather singular, 
 valerian being their favourite perfume. It is a very 
 unsafe experiment for any one who cares about the 
 appearance of his garden to suffer a single plant of 
 this herb to be placed in it, for every cat in the neigh- 
 bourhood will inevitably discover it, assemble in troops, 
 and roll over it and the adjacent beds until not a ves- 
 tige of the plant is left. A waggish individual, who 
 was plagued by the incessant mewing and quarrelling 
 of a colony of cats belonging to an old lady next door, 
 contrived to revenge himself through the medium of 
 her pets. The lady in question had two hobbies, her 
 cats and her garden. Accordingly, after the annoyance 
 had become quite unbearable, her neighbour pro- 
 ceeded to the market, and procured a quantity of 
 valerian. This he brought home, steeped it in 
 boiling water to make it give out the whole of its 
 odour, and scattered it over the garden. Next morn- 
 ing, when the old lady descended into her garden, 
 she found it in most admired disorder. Not a flower
 
 96 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 was left, the earth, from the beds was torn up, and 
 scattered about the gravel. The beautifully smooth 
 lawn was also scratched up in a hundred places, and 
 could hardly have presented a worse appearance had 
 a body of cavalry been exercising upon it. Horrified 
 at the appearance of her garden, the poor lady sought 
 refuge in the house, and consolation from her cats. 
 Alas ! her pets were in a worse state than her garden. 
 Covered with mud, with downcast looks, and still sa- 
 vouring powerfully of valerian, those of her cats who 
 could be found at all presented themselves. And 
 worse than this, was to come, for the cats, half mad- 
 dened with excitement at the smell of valerian, had 
 been fighting with each other for the pieces, and, 
 in consequence, her pampered favourites had been 
 worsted in the encounters, and came home with torn 
 ears, scratched noses, and ragged bodies. 
 
 I heard lately of a cat who exhibited a penchant for 
 spirits, not in the refined form of perfumes, but hi 
 the more vulgar form of brandy. She belongs to one 
 of my friends, and has lately displayed qualities which 
 would have called down the indignation of Father 
 Mathew, and inevitably caused her ejection from a 
 consistent temperance family. Her master had just 
 taken his supper one night, when the cat, as hungry 
 cats generally do, placed her fore paws on his knee. 
 and gently patted his arm. He naturally imagining 
 that pussy intended this as a gentle hint that she 
 would like some supper also, offered her a piece of 
 bread, which she repudiated. He then, intending to 
 play the cat a trick, dipped the bread into some 
 brandy and water which he had just compounded, 
 and again offered it to the cat. To his astonishment, 
 she immediately disposed of the soaked bread, and 
 became very impatient for more. She ate several 
 pieces of this bread, and finished by eating a piece 
 dipped in pure brandy. 
 
 If this circumstance had taken place some two 
 hundred years since, in all probability there would
 
 CAT. 97 
 
 have been a cry of witchcraft, and a call for Matthew 
 Hopkins, who would inevitably have identified the cat 
 with a neighbouring dowager celebrated for her devo- 
 tion to tipsy cake. 
 
 Even- one must have noticed the love of a cat for her 
 kittens, and the manner in which she brings them up, 
 teaching them their lessons, as it were, and exercising 
 their limbs and eyes by all manner of gambols. Un- 
 like many animals, when her young arrive at years of 
 discretion, and are able to gain their own living with- 
 out her maternal care, she does not drive them away, 
 but still keeps up a kindly feeling for them, although it 
 is not so strong as when they were little and helpless. 
 At such a time, she devotes her whole existence to her 
 young, and if they are in danger, thinks her own life 
 as nothing when compared with their safety. Some time 
 since, while a number of kittens were playing about 
 in the straw near a barn door, a large hawk swooped 
 down upon them, and seized one of the kittens in his 
 claws. Being,encumbered by the weight, it could not 
 rise very quickly, and gave the mother time to spring 
 to the rescue of her offspring. She immediately flew 
 at the hawk, who in self-defence was forced to drop 
 the kitten. A regular pitched battle then took place, 
 the hawk at first gaining the advantage, in conse- 
 quence of his power of flight. After some time, the 
 cat, after losing an eye and getting her ears torn to 
 ribbons, succeeded in breaking the wing of her adver- 
 sary. Stimulated by this success, she sprang on the 
 maimed hawk with renewed fury ; and after a pro- 
 tracted struggle, made one decisive effort, and laid 
 him dead at her feet. She spent but one moment in 
 making sure of her conquest by tearing the head of 
 her vanquished foe to pieces, and then turned to 
 her kitten, licked its bleeding wounds, and began to 
 purr as if she had not received the slightest injury 
 herself. 
 
 The reasoning powers of the cat have been very 
 much underrated. The intellect of a cat does not
 
 98 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 come very far behind that of a dog ; but as it is 
 almost always exerted for selfish purposes, compara- 
 tively little notice is taken of it. In the following 
 anecdotes, the reasoning powers appear to be by no 
 means small, and in one instance were exerted in a 
 very singular manner. 
 
 Four cats, belonging to one of my friends, had 
 taught themselves the art of begging like a dog. 
 They had frequently seen the dog practise that ac- 
 complishment at table, and had observed that he 
 generally obtained a reward for so doing. By a pro- 
 cess of inductive reasoning they decided that, if they 
 possessed the same accomplishment, they would in all 
 probability receive the same reward. Acting on this 
 opinion, they waited until they saw the dog sit up in 
 the begging position, and immediately assumed the 
 same attitude with imperturbable gravity. Of course 
 their ingenuity was not suffered to pass unrewarded, 
 and they always found that their newly-discovered ac- 
 complishment was an unfailing source of supplies for 
 them. 
 
 Two cats had taken up their residence in a barn, and 
 were remarkable for their friendship towards each other. 
 It so happened that both of the cats were favoured with 
 kittens about the same time, and of course were very 
 proud and careful of their young families. After a few 
 days the little kittens began to run about ; and at last, 
 both families contrived to stray into a pathway where 
 they might possibly be injured. One of the mothers, 
 seeing this, took up her own offspring, one by one, 
 and carried them into a place of safety ; but there was 
 then left one kitten belonging to her friend. This 
 she would not touch, but went in search of its mother, 
 brought it with her to the kitten, arid waited until it 
 also had been placed in safety. 
 
 The idea of comparative size is in no way above 
 the comprehension of a cat, as will be seen from the 
 following anecdote. There was a remarkably fine cat, 
 who lived in a house that contained every luxury that
 
 CAT. 99 
 
 a cat could wish for. The fare was plentiful, the 
 milk unlimited, no lack of mice, and plenty of black 
 beetles for evening amusement. Besides these com- 
 forts, there was a very pleasant garden attached to the 
 house, where sparrows, robins, and other little birds 
 were to be caught occasionally. There was but one 
 drawback the envy of a neighbour. A few doors 
 distant lived a very large tom-cat, who looked with 
 envious eyes upon the prosperity of his neighbour ; 
 and, very naturally, from envying her good fortune, he 
 came to hate herself. Accordingly, he lost no oppor- 
 tunity of teasing her, and used to look out for her 
 while she was quietly sleeping in the garden ; at such 
 times he would pounce down, give her a blow on the 
 head, and chase her out of the garden. This was 
 treatment to which she never would have submitted, 
 had she been at all equal to her persecutor in 
 strength and size, but as she was decidedly inferior in 
 both respects, she converted her weakness into an in- 
 strument of safety. In the garden stood an iron 
 roller, having its ends filled up with scroll-work. The 
 cat being imbued with that spirit of curiosity so 
 strongly implanted in the feline race, had discovered 
 that she could just squeeze through the openings and 
 sit inside the roller. Soon after she had made this 
 discovery, the envious cat again insulted her. This 
 time she did not take the trouble of escaping out of 
 the garden ; but ran at once to the roller, crawled in, 
 and sat there watching with perfect equanimity the 
 struggles of her persecutor to force himself through 
 the opening. Ever after that time the roller became 
 her camp of refuge. 
 
 Cats are almost as inquisitive as monkeys. If the 
 slightest change is made in the furniture of a room, 
 they find it out at once, and never rest until they have 
 thoroughly surveyed the alterations. My college cat 
 was, as usual, sitting on my hearth-rug in the evening, 
 when a friend came in. Pussy did not at all approve 
 of strangers, and walked round him several times, 
 
 H 2
 
 100 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFK. 
 
 evidently unsatisfied. This led to some conversation 
 on the curiosity evinced by cats, and various instances 
 were adduced. I had that day been making a large 
 cage for rearing butterflies and moths from the egg. 
 The top was covered with wire gauze, and would lift up, 
 for the convenience of removing and changing the plants 
 on which caterpillars feed. This was very well as long 
 as they remained caterpillars ; but it was very evident 
 that when the caterpillars became butterflies, the mo- 
 ment that the top of the cage was opened they would 
 escape, and either-get away altogether, or, at all events, 
 batter themselves about sadly before they were re- 
 captured. I therefore cut a small door, about four 
 inches square, in the wooden side of the cage, through 
 which the arm could be passed, and the butterfly 
 caught without the smallest chance of escape. The 
 cat had been seriously perplexed by the appearance of 
 this cage, and had not entirely made up her mind 
 about it ; so I told my friend that I would make the 
 cat creep through the little door. He was rather in- 
 credulous, as in general cats are not very obedient. 
 I therefore took the cage off its stand and placed it on 
 the ground, at the same time opening the little door. 
 Pussy soon saw this, and began to sniff about it, 
 until she discovered the open door. First she peeped 
 in, then she explored with one paw, and then with 
 the other. At last she found herself unable to resist 
 the temptation, and squeezed herself through the 
 aperture. Directly she was fairly in, I shut and 
 fastened the door. In the meanwhile, pussy ex- 
 amined with great satisfaction ; and after she had made 
 herself acquainted with every corner of the cage, she 
 looked for the door at which she had entered, and 
 commenced a tour of discovery, during which she 
 made several dashes at a glass window in the side of 
 the box, about the same dimensions as the door. Find- 
 ing all her endeavours fruitless, she laid herself down 
 and calmly went to sleep, much to my discomfiture ; for 
 I had calculated on hearing her mew piteously for at
 
 CAT. 101 
 
 least a quarter of an hour, and intended the affair 
 as a lesson to pussy not to be inquisitive in future. 
 
 Some country friends of mine possess a huge cat, 
 rejoicing in various names, but generally going by the 
 name of Succubus. The great creature is shamefully 
 lazy ; and if he is lifted up high in the air, and suf- 
 fered to fall, he comes down heavily like a lump of 
 clay, and sits down where he fell. Like most cats, he 
 takes great care to make himself comfortable. One 
 spring, his juvenile owners had discovered the nest of 
 a thrush in their garden ; they were extremely pleased 
 with the discoveiy, and took great care not to injure 
 the parent birds. In a few days the nest was com- 
 pleted, and an egg laid. Soon, the full number was 
 completed, and the hen bird began to sit. This was 
 an anxious time for the young ornithologists, who 
 were daily expecting the advent of five little thrushes. 
 Day after day they visited the nest, and found all 
 going on well ; but on one unfortunate day, when they 
 went to pay their usual visit, they found Succubus lying 
 curled up in the nest, the eggs broken, and the parent 
 birds gone. 
 
 Although the proverb respecting cats and dogs 
 seems to point to an inextinguishable animosity exist- 
 ing between them, no animals can live more comfort- 
 ably together than do cats and dogs when brought up 
 together. They will even eat together from the 
 same plate without quarrelling, though the dog does 
 get the greater part of the provisions. Sometimes 
 the cat seems to envy the dog's greater powers of 
 mastication, and appears to fancy that she is not well 
 treated. This was most ludicrously exemplified in 
 the case of a very small kitten. The little creature 
 used to consider that the food daily placed for a large 
 Newfoundland dog was so much more than her own 
 allowance, that means ought to be taken to equalise 
 matters. Now kitty, although her estimate of com- 
 parative size was rather erroneous with regard to the 
 provisions, was very correct with regard to the dog
 
 102 ANECDOTES OF AMMAL LIFE. 
 
 himself, and she never ventured to make a direct 
 attack, as the Newfoundland could have swallowed 
 her without in the least destroying his appetite for 
 dinner. So she set about her task in a different way. 
 When she saw Neptune at dinner, she would make her 
 appearance, and take a circuit round his kennel, just 
 out of reach of his chain, looking at him in a conci- 
 liatory manner. Next circuit would be a little smaller, 
 bringing her within his reach. Neptune, well knowing 
 what she wanted, would lift his nose from the plate 
 and look at her, at which kitty would mew in a very 
 supplicatory manner. This used to be repeated until 
 the kitten had got close to the kennel. When there, 
 she lay down as if perfectly satisfied with making 
 friends with the dog. Soon she began to creep slowly 
 towards his plate, but looking perfectly unconcerned, 
 as if she did not see that any dinner was going on. 
 Having reached the plate, she would watch until 
 Neptune's eye was off her, when she would make a 
 sudden spring across the plate, snatching up a piece of 
 meat in her progress, and dash off as fast as she could 
 scamper. 
 
 The cat Succubus mentioned above was frequently 
 used in the light of a musical instrument by his 
 owners. The animal being very fat and lazy, had a 
 great objection to being handled, and was accustomed 
 to resent such treatment by a subdued sleepy kind of 
 a growl. By taking him in the arms as a baby 
 generally lies, and pulling his tail, the growl was 
 always elicited ; and by judicious squeezing and 
 pinching his thorax, the growl was changed into a 
 series of sounds sharper or deeper according to the vio- 
 lence of the operation. My own cat, when subjected 
 to that process, gives forth almost a chromatic scale, 
 beginning at a deep note and gradually rising to a very 
 high one, which is apt to degenerate into a hiss if the 
 squeeze is too hard. The animal appears to be per- 
 fectly aware of the ludicrous nature of the sounds thus 
 elicited from him.
 
 CAT. 103 
 
 This is but a feeble imitation of the grand instru- 
 ment invented by an ingenious musician and mecha- 
 nist. The musical part of the instrument was en- 
 tirely composed of cats. The inventor, who, I sup- 
 pose, in these days, would have dubbed himself 
 professor of ^lurophoneticism, constructed his organ 
 after the following manner. First, he made a num- 
 ber of little boxes, just large enough to hold a 
 cat, with a hole in the lid of each box. The boxes 
 were arranged in a regular scale, each being marked 
 C, C#, D,'DJt, &c. He then sent for a number 
 of cats, and by pinching the tail of each, found out 
 its note, and ticketed it accordingly. When the per- 
 formance came on, each cat was placed in its proper 
 cell, its tail drawn through the hole in the lid. and fixed 
 in a perpendicular position. To an ordinary set of 
 manuals was attached a piece of mechanism, which, 
 when the performer struck C, pinched the tail of the 
 C-cat ; and so on with the remaining keys. A very 
 lively performance then took place, the only drawback 
 being, that sometimes a cat would ciy in the wrong 
 place. The inventor found that cats soon got out of 
 tune, and that their notes were too long, a defect which 
 he could not rectify, as dampers were naturally imprac- 
 ticable, so he afterwards substituted pigs, whose notes 
 were more uniform and less sustained. 
 
 With regard to the friendship between cats and 
 dogs, I had almost forgotten to mention the curious 
 intimacy that took place between a dog and a cat of 
 my acquaintance. They had been brought up toge- 
 ther from childhood, and had formed a Benedict and 
 Beatrice kind of affection for each other, always quar- 
 relling in a humorous kind of way when together, 
 and always miserable when apart. If they were by 
 any chance separated, they never rested until they had 
 joined company. Each knowing this, was accustomed 
 to slip away from the other, and lie in ambush. In 
 such a case, the dog would rush out on the cat, and 
 tumble her over with his nose, or the cat would sit
 
 104 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 with her right paw ready lifted, and deal her friend a 
 sound box on the ear, immediately escaping up a tree, 
 when he would bark, and she would spit, for a minute 
 or two, when she would come down and engage in a 
 game of romps with" him. One day she had hidden 
 herself behind a door-scraper, her paw ready lifted for 
 a blow, and her eyes glowing with eagerness, as she 
 heard the dog's step just behind her. Prince just at 
 that moment caught a glimpse of puss, and made a 
 great spring past her, setting off along the gravel path 
 as fast as his legs would cany him. Pussy made a 
 spiteful blow at him as he passed, but missed her aim ; 
 and instantly commenced a pursuit on three legs, 
 holding her right paw in the air, lest it should lose 
 any of its strength, and detract from the force of the 
 blow with which she intended to greet Prince when 
 she caught him. 
 
 A little Skye terrier, belonging to one of my 
 friends, was lately blessed with a small family of 
 two. During the time that her puppies were de- 
 pendent upon her for subsistence, Jip was changed 
 from a good-natured caressing little animal into a 
 savage wild beast. No one, except her master, was 
 permitted to enter the shed where the puppies lay, 
 without being immediately attacked by their mother, 
 who flew at the intruders with the utmost fury, bark- 
 ing until it was a wonder that her throat was not torn 
 to pieces. In due time the puppies grew up, and Jip 
 grew amenable, suffering them to be handled without 
 remonstrance ; and when they were a few months old, 
 one of them was given away, and the other died, Jip 
 treating both misfortunes in a very philosophical man- 
 ner. About the time that the puppy died, a little 
 kitten arrived at the house, and, finding the inhabit- 
 ants behaved kindly to it, took up its residence there. 
 There was already one kitten in the house, who was 
 a fast friend to Jip, and was accustomed to romp with 
 her continually ; but when kitten number two arrived, 
 Jip treated it just as if it were one of her own puppies.
 
 CAT. 105 
 
 Soon after its arrival, I was passing by the kitchen 
 door, when Jip flew out, barking and growling just as 
 she had done during the childhood of her puppies, and 
 as I persisted in entering the kitchen to see what was 
 the matter, she retreated to the hearth-rug, where lay 
 a little tabby kitten curled up fast asleep. Jip lay 
 down by it, put her paws on each side of it as if to de- 
 fend the little animal, and set up a savage snarl, 
 changing to a bark at the slightest movement. The 
 kitten still lay quite unmoved at all the noises pro- 
 ceeding from its guardian's throat, and did not even 
 appear to awake. 
 
 Cats can use very expressive acting when they wish 
 to make themselves understood ; and can render 
 themselves intelligible not only to their own species, 
 but to mankind. My own cat constantly summons 
 me down stairs to open the cellar door ; and if he is 
 desirous of a game at play, he waits until he has 
 drawn my attention, and commences a series of antics, 
 just as if I were already playing with him. Some- 
 times he gets up at the window, just as was related of 
 Sai, puts his fore-legs on the back of a chair, and surveys 
 the street. We can always tell by his demeanour 
 what kind of objects are passing. Nothing takes his 
 fancy so much as a large dog. Directly such an ani- 
 mal appears, his ears prick forward, his neck is 
 stretched to double its usual length, and he does not 
 resume his accustomed placidity until the dog is en- 
 tirely out of sight. Once a couple of bears came by. 
 Their appearance upset him dreadfully ; but he stood 
 his ground until they began to dance, when he sprang 
 from his chair and hid himself under the hangings of 
 a great arm-chair, from which he did not venture for 
 some time. 
 
 There are few places where a cat cannot gain ad- 
 mittance either by cunning or activity. My cat is 
 constantly put in the cellar while meals are going on ; 
 but he is sure to be back again in a very few minutes. 
 There is a stair going down to the cellars which pro- 
 jects a little. Under this he hides; and when the
 
 106 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 sen-ant has reached the top of the stairs, he walks 
 softly behind, and the moment the dining-room door 
 is opened, leaps in with a great spring, and takes up 
 his post as near the carver as possible. Another cat, 
 who was on very friendly terms with me during my 
 residence in the country, was accustomed to make her 
 way to my room, even when she was fastened out of the 
 house. There was an espalier pear-tree nailed against 
 the gable. Up this she would climb, and from thence 
 scramble in through a defective loft window. This 
 gave her access- to the stairs, down which she came ; 
 and by scratching and mewing at my door, always 
 contrived to be admitted. She was a very good-tem- 
 pered cat, and I never knew her discomposed except 
 on one occasion, when I put her kitten into a large 
 glass jar. 
 
 This cat was ingenious enough, but not quite so 
 ingenious as one belonging to one of my friends, who 
 had learned an art beyond* that of scratching for ad- 
 mittance, for she had taught herself to open the latch 
 of a door by springing up to it, and striking it with 
 her paw. 
 
 Some cats, if well treated, will obey the command 
 of their master like a dog. I have known of several 
 instances of this amiable conduct. One cat belonged 
 to a schoolboy, who was accustomed to take it out with 
 him in the fields when he went out for a walk, and had 
 trained it to run up any tree that he pointed out. 
 Another cat used always to follow her master when he 
 rode out, and kept up with his horse for long dis- 
 tances. Once her master was riding across country, 
 and came to a brook, over which he leaped his horse. 
 Pussy stood on the bank, shivering and looking dis- 
 mayed, but when she saw her master disappearing in 
 the distance, she sprang into the brook, and scrambled 
 over. Her fidelity met with a poor reward, for she 
 was almost immediately seized with a fit, and died in 
 a day or two afterwards. 
 
 There is a cat now living in Oxford, which is accus- 
 tomed to catch fish for herself, as they pass under a
 
 CAT. 1JY.EKA. 107* 
 
 wharf on which she sits. She will not touch little 
 fish, and disdains to enter the water for any fish less 
 than a hen-ing. 
 
 The cat who resented the temporary imprisonment 
 of her kitten in a bottle, was very much attached 
 to the servants, and used to follow them about the 
 house. One day they had to visit a village about a 
 mile and a half distant, and set off accordingly. 
 \Vhen they had reached the village, they saw the 
 people laughing at them, and on turning round to 
 search for the cause, they found the cat, accompanied 
 by her kitten, trotting complacently behind them. So 
 the cats were picked up and carried into the village 
 to keep them from the dogs ; when they returned, the 
 two cats were again earned until the danger of canine 
 jaws was passed, and being replaced on the ground, 
 they accompanied the servants home. 
 
 The last circumstance of this nature occurred very 
 lately. A lady, on reaching the church door, found 
 that her cat had followed her. It was useless to send 
 pussy back, and, of course, it would have been cruel 
 to shut her out. She, therefore was permitted to 
 enter the church. She then lay down under the seat, 
 and remained quite quiet until service was over, at 
 which time she got up and walked home again. 
 
 HYvENA. 
 
 THERE are several species of hyeenas, all of them 
 possessing certain peculiarities which distinguish them 
 at once from all other animals, the principal marks 
 being the length of their fore-legs, and the enormous 
 power of their jaws. Their fore-legs are so much longer 
 than their hinder, that the animal moves with a kind of 
 shambling shuffle, that gives it a sneaking appearance, 
 too well borne out by its character. The expression of 
 its countenance is that of untameable, ill-natured fero- 
 city, and its voice resembles an exulting demoniacal 
 laugh. Altogether, it is about as unprepossessing an 
 animal as can well be imagined. Its habits are such
 
 108 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 as to deepen the unfavourable impression which its 
 personal appearance never fails to create, for it mostly 
 derives its food from dead bodies of men and animals, 
 for the one, robbing the cemeteries, for the other, 
 scouring the streets, if it lives near mankind, or fol- 
 lowing the track of the lion and other beasts, if it 
 lives in the desert, and disputing the prey with them. 
 If the body of any departed friend is intended to rest 
 in peace, the survivors are forced to fence in and pro- 
 tect the grave by a strong fortress of thorns and 
 prickly shrubs, as the hyaenas very soon scrape away 
 the earth of a newly-made grave. 
 
 The jaws of these creatures are more powerful than 
 those of any other animal, and to give them this 
 power, the top of the skull is surmounted with an 
 enormous bony ridge, serving for the support of the 
 immense muscles that move the jaws. The lions and 
 tigers possess tolerably powerful jaws, and have, ac- 
 cordingly, a large ridge on their head ; but they sink 
 into insignificance when placed beside the skull of a 
 hyaena. The object of this enormous power of jaw 
 is evident. The hysenas are intended as scavengers, 
 to remove from the face of the earth those substances 
 which would otherwise putrefy and pollute the air. 
 Among these substances may be placed the dead car- 
 casses of large animals, which, in the countries where 
 the hyaena lives, are frequently seen thrown down un- 
 heeded, and, if the hyaenas and vultures did not re- 
 move them, would be suffered to remain there until 
 they had wasted away by putrefaction. It is, there- 
 fore, with a view to this end, that the jaws of the 
 hyaena have been made so powerful. When they dis- 
 cover a dead animal, it soon vanishes, for the hyaenas 
 leave nothing but the horns, hoofs, and skull, even 
 the very bones being devoured. Between the teeth 
 of a hyeena the leg-bone of an ox is broken up as 
 easily as a schoolboy cracks a nut; and not only does 
 the animal break up the bones for the sake of the 
 marrow, but devours bones and all. Dr. Buckland, 
 who made several experiments on the strength of
 
 HYJiNA. 109 
 
 hyaenas' jaws, compared them to a crashing mill, or 
 those enormous shears used in foundries to cut up 
 rolls of iron and copper.* 
 
 The neck of these animals is also exceedingly 
 strong, and when the skin is taken off, looks like a 
 fleshy cahle, and with such force are these muscles 
 endued, that, according to Cuvier, the joints of the 
 vertebrae sometimes become anchylosed, or rendered 
 immoveable by the strain of the muscles. The neck, 
 therefore, becomes quite stiff, and leads many people 
 to imagine that the neck of the hyaena has only one 
 joint. 
 
 The hyaenas are confined to Africa and part of Asia. 
 
 It can hardly be expected that an animal, so sin- 
 gular in its appearance and habits, could escape with- 
 out considerable vilification at the hands of the earlier 
 naturalists. One of them details an accomplishment 
 possessed by the hyasna, which clearly proves that 
 Electro-biology can be practised by quadrupeds as well 
 as by men. 
 
 " If a man meet with this beast, he must not set 
 upon it on the right hand, but on the left, for it hath 
 been often seen, that when in haste it did run by the 
 
 * These experiments were made in order to clear up a doubt 
 respecting some broken bones found in Kirkdale Cave. Dr. 
 Buckland asserted that they were the bones of certain animals 
 cracked by the hyaenas, whose skeletons lay near. The power 
 of jaw required for such a feat appeared so improbable that Dr. 
 Buckland commenced a series of experiments, with a view to 
 ascertaining the point. He therefore presented the leg-bones 
 of oxen to a living hyaena, who instantly broke them between 
 his jaws, and began to swallow the smaller pieces. Dr. Buck- 
 land then took away the crushed ends of the bones, and com- 
 pared them with those found in Kirkdale Cave. As he had ima- 
 gined, they corresponded so closely that there was no longer 
 any doubt on the subject. 
 
 Specimens of the recent and fossil bones broken by the 
 hyena's jaws were afterwards placed in the Geological Museum 
 at Oxford, where they may now be seen. So closely do they 
 correspond, that, save for their antiquity, the fossil bones might 
 be passed off as those broken by the hyaena only a few years
 
 1 10 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 hunter on the right hand, he presently fell off from 
 his horse senseless ; and, therefore, they that secure 
 themselves from this beast must be careful to receive 
 him on the left side, that so he may with more facility 
 be taken, especially (saitli Pliny) if the cords wherein 
 he is to be ensnared be fastened with seven knots. 
 jElianus reported! of them, that one of these coming 
 to a man asleep in a sheep-cot, by laying her left 
 hand or fore foot to his mouth, made or cast him into 
 a deep sleep, and afterward digged about him such a 
 hole like a grave, as she covered all his body over 
 with earth, except his throat and head, whereupon 
 she sat until she suffocated and stifled him ; yet 
 Philes attributed! this to her right foot. The like is 
 attributed to a sea-calf and the fish hyaena, and there- 
 fore the old magicians, by reason of this exanimating 
 property, did not a little glory in diese beasts, as if 
 they had been taught by them to exercise diabolical 
 and prestigious incantation whereby they deprived 
 men of sense, motion, and reason." 
 
 Although the hyaena has been called an untameable 
 animal, there have been several tame hyaenas known, 
 which have domesticated themselves like dogs, and ap- 
 peared quite as much attached to their masters. 
 
 The hyaena is a shockingly cowardly animal, and 
 never attacks those creatures from whom it fears any 
 resistance, but directs its efforts toward carrying off 
 their young. Curiously enough it is much more suc- 
 cessful in the chase of healthy animals than those 
 which are weakened by disease, for this reason : the 
 hyaena has no notion of opposing any animal that 
 boldly resists him ; but if he can put to flight any 
 creature, he pursues it with all the courage imagin- 
 able. When, therefore, he is about to attack any 
 living animal, he first sets up a tremendous howl, and 
 gnashes his teeth. At this sound, those animals who are 
 in health trust to their speed, and scamper off, while 
 those who are deprived of their speed by illness turn 
 round and boldly face him, whereat he prudently 
 leaves them, and chases die fugitives. So, fearing
 
 HT^KA. Ill 
 
 man, but having a liking for human flesh, the hyaena 
 comes silently by night, and steals away sleeping chil- 
 dren from the very arms of their mothers, and that 
 so quietly, that the unfortunate parent is often un- 
 conscious of her loss until roused by the 'cries of 
 her infant as the nocturnal depredator is carrying 
 it off. 
 
 I have before mentioned the enormous strength of 
 the hysena's neck, and will now give an instance where 
 the creature exhibited his powers of neck in a very 
 singular manner. The flooring of a hysena's den 
 wanted repairing. The carpenter had been working 
 at it for some time, and completed his work by nail- 
 ing down a stout oak plank about seven feet in length. 
 The plank was fastened down by a dozen or so nails 
 of the description called " tenpenny," being rather 
 longer than a man's middle finger, and proportion- 
 ately stout. When the plank was nailed down, the 
 carpenter discovered that, at one end, there was a 
 small piece of wood standing out a little higher than 
 the rest. He sought for his chisel, to take off the 
 offending projection, but not finding it, he left the 
 den in order to bring one from his shop. During his 
 absence, some visitors came, and the hyaena was ad- 
 mitted into his den for a time. With the usual cu- 
 riosity of hyeenas, he instantly began an examination 
 of the alterations that had been made, and on dis- 
 covering the projecting piece of wood, he fastened 
 his teeth into it, and wrenched up the plank in spite 
 of the nails. 
 
 The curiosity with which these animals are so 
 strongly imbued often acts as a preservative against 
 danger. They are very suspicious, and if they meet 
 with any object to which they are unaccustomed, they 
 fear it as a ti'ap, and retreat immediately. The 
 farmers, whose flocks and herds had suffered from the 
 attacks of these ravenous animals, were accustomed to 
 place spring-guns in their way, so managed, that when 
 the animal presses against certain leathern thongs 
 stretched across the path, the trigger of the gun is
 
 112 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 pulled, and the charge lodged in the hyaena. This 
 plan answered tolerably at first ; but the crafty ani- 
 mals soon learned to distrust leathern thongs, and 
 the farmers were obliged to substitute the stems of 
 creepers. These the hysenas did not fear, and con- 
 sequently lost no small number of their forces. 
 
 The cowardice of the hysena has been before men- 
 tioned, but, like other cowards, when fairly driven to 
 bay, they fight in the most desperate manner ; and 
 then are foes not to be despised, as if they do con- 
 trive to get a 'hold on their adversary with their 
 powerful jaws, they seldom loose their hold until they 
 have lost their head, and, at all events, do consider- 
 able injury. A hysena that had ventured to attack 
 Bruce, the African traveller, in his tent, afforded a 
 fair example of the hysenine character, craftiness, 
 cowardice, impudence, and ferocity. He writes as 
 follows : 
 
 " These creatures were a general scourge to Abys- 
 sinia in every situation, both of the city and the 
 field, and they seem to surpass even the sheep in 
 number. From evening till the dawn of day, the 
 town of Gondar was full of them. Here they sought 
 the different pieces of slaughtered carcasses which 
 this cruel and unclean people were accustomed to ex- 
 pose in the streets without burial. Many a time in 
 the night, when the king had kept me late in the 
 palace, on going across the square from the king's 
 house, I have been apprehensive lest they should bite 
 me on the leg. They grunted in great numbers around 
 me, although I was surrounded with, several armed 
 men, who seldom passed a night without wounding 
 or slaughtering some of them. One night in Maitsha, 
 being very intent on an observation, I heard some- 
 thing pass behind me towards the bed, but on look- 
 ing round, could perceive nothing. Having finished 
 what I was then about, I went out of my tent, resolv- 
 ing directly to return ; this I immediately did, and in 
 so doing, perceived two large blue eyes glaring at me 
 in the dark. I called my servant to bring a light,
 
 HY^NA. 113 
 
 and we found a hysena standing near the head of the 
 bed, with two or three large bunches of candles in his 
 mouth. To have fired at him, would have been at 
 the risk of breaking my quadrant or other furniture, 
 and he seemed, by keeping the candles steadily in his 
 mouth, to wish at that time for no other prey. As 
 his mouth was full, and he had no claws to tear with, 
 I was not afraid of him, and, with a pike, struck him 
 as near the heart as I could. It was not until I had 
 done this that he showed any signs of fierceness ; 
 but, upon feeling his wound, he dropped the candles, 
 and endeavoured to run up the shaft of the spear to 
 arrive at me, so that I was obliged to draw a pistol 
 from my girdle and shoot him, and nearly at the 
 same time my servant cleft his skull with a battle-axe. 
 In a word, the hyeenas were the plague of our lives, 
 the terror of our night walks, and the destruction of 
 our mules and asses, which, above everything else, are 
 their favourite food." 
 
 I conclude the accounts of this animal with an ex- 
 tract from Topsell of 
 
 THE MEDICINES OF THE HY.ENA. 
 
 " There is for the biting of a ravenous dog an ex- 
 cellent remedy, which is this : first to anoint the place 
 so bitten with the fat or grease of a sea-calf, or else 
 to give it in drink ; and then, to make the operation 
 more effectual, mingle the marrow of an hyana, and 
 oyl that cometh from the Mastick tree, and wax toge- 
 ther, and being so applyed and anointed upon the 
 sore, it will presently cure the same. 
 
 " The gall of an hyaena being mingled with hony, 
 and anointed upon the eyes, doth sharpen and clear 
 the eyesight, and expel and drive away all blemishes 
 and small skins which cover the sight of the eye ; as 
 also the pain in the eyes called the pin and the web. 
 But Apollonius Pitaneus doth say, that the gall of a 
 dog, being used in the aforesaid manner, is better to 
 cure the sight of the eyes than the gall of an hycena. 
 
 I
 
 114 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 But Pliny, whom I think best to follow, and worthyest 
 to be believed, doth best allow of the hyanas gall for 
 the aforesaid purposes, and also for the expelling of 
 certain white spots in the eye, which do hinder the 
 sight thereof. 
 
 " The gall of a bear and of an liyama being dryed 
 and beaten to powder, and so mixed with the best 
 hony which is possible to be had, and then stirred 
 up and downe a long time together, doth help them 
 on to their eyesight which are stark blinde, if that 
 it be daily anointed and spread upon the eyes for a 
 reasonable space together. The gall of an hyana 
 being baked in a cruse of Athenian hony, and min- 
 gled with the crooked herb crocis, and so anointed 
 upon the brows or forehead of them which are pur- 
 blinde, doth speedily help. them; it doth also cure 
 them which are troubled with the water or rheume 
 which falleth hi the eyes. Democritus doth also affirm, 
 that if the brow of either man or woman be anointed 
 with the gall of an hycena only, it will drive away all 
 darkenings and blemishes in the eyes, and expel the 
 water or rheume thereof, and also asswage the pain 
 and grief which may come or happen hi them, what- 
 soever it be." 
 
 We will now leave the Hyaenas, and turn to the 
 
 WEASELS. 
 
 THE weasel tribe contains many species, all being 
 more or less destructive, and many being the pests of 
 the places where they live. They, as well as the cat 
 tribe, are digitigrade, that is, they walk on their toes, 
 while the bear and other similar animals walk on the 
 entire foot, and are, therefore, called plantigrade. 
 They ah 1 have long, slender bodies, and very short 
 legs, enabling them to penetrate into very small open- 
 ings, a property necessary to them, as they mostly 
 live on those animals whose residence is in holes. 
 We will here depart a little from the regular order,
 
 WEASEL. 115 
 
 and take first the common English weasel. This is 
 a very tiny animal, but particularly destructive to mice, 
 rats, and such small deer, although it sometimes ven- 
 tures on nobler prey, such as a hare, rabbit or partridge. 
 This propensity for mouse-hunting makes it an in- 
 valuable assistant to the farmer, who not unfrequently 
 repays its benefits by nailing it on his barn. When 
 prey is very abundant, it does not trouble itself to 
 eat the carcase of the creature it has slain, but con- 
 tents itself with eating the brain only. This habit, of 
 course, renders the weasels still more useful in farms, as 
 they therefore kill more mice than the}" would, if they 
 always devoured the entire body. Their plan is 
 usually to kill a mouse, eat the brain, and then hide 
 the body in some place, to which they return if they 
 are hungry. But, when prey is plentiful, they kill so 
 many, that they forget the hiding places, and, there- 
 fore, are forced to kill more prey. They destroy the 
 animals which they attack, by a single bite on the 
 back of the head, driving their long, sharp little teeth 
 into the brain, producing instantaneous death. At 
 the moment of inflicting the bite, they generally 
 throw their bodies upon the animal, in order to pre- 
 vent its escape, should the first bite not prove mortal. 
 
 This little quadruped hunts by scent as well as any 
 hound, and if thrown out, quarters its ground in the 
 most business-like manner imaginable, until it hits 
 off the scent, when it starts off again with untiring 
 perseverance. Woe to the unfortunate rat, mouse, or 
 rabbit, whose track is ever taken up by a weasel. Its 
 superior swiftness is of no avail, for its diminutive 
 pursuer continues its hunt slowly but surely, and is 
 certain to catch it at last. Sometimes the persecuted 
 quarry takes to the water in hope of escape, but the 
 weasel plunges in also without hesitation, and unless 
 the animal hunted be a water-rat, is sure to catch it. 
 
 Although an useful ally to the farmer, it is espe- 
 cially detested by the gamekeeper, who accuses it, 
 with some reason, of destroying the hares, rabbits, 
 
 i 2
 
 116 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 and partridges. This accusation is but too well 
 founded, as the weasel is an inveterate devourer of 
 eggs, even climbing trees to get at them, and is, 
 therefore, very likely to devour those which, like the 
 eggs of the partridge and pheasant, are laid on the 
 ground. Still the weasel is not so guilty in this 
 matter as the stoat, upon whose shoulders the accusa- 
 tion should principally rest. Neither is it likely to 
 resist the temptation of a newly-hatched pheasant or 
 partridge, if it can find no mice at hand, and it cer- 
 tainly does occasionally abstract a chicken or two 
 from the farm-yard ; but, on the whole, the good that 
 it does by the destruction of rats and mice more than 
 counterbalances its delinquencies in the matter of 
 ducklings and chickens, and ought to entitle it to our 
 protection. 
 
 The weasel is popularly reputed to kill snakes, but 
 this notion is contradicted by Mr. Bell, who placed a 
 snake and a weasel in the same cage, and found that 
 after several hours' confinement the weasel did no 
 further harm to the snake than biting it three or four 
 times on the nose, probably because it disliked its 
 company. The snake was, therefore, removed, and a 
 mouse substituted. As if to show that its forbearance 
 did not proceed from indolence, the weasel's indiffer- 
 ence immediately vanished ; he sprang from his box, 
 and laid the mouse dead with a bite on the head. 
 
 The weasel generally makes its nest of dry leaves 
 and grass, and places it in some sheltered spot, such 
 as the root of an old tree, a dry ditch, or an old well. 
 Sometimes the weasels remain so long in one place, 
 that there is quite a colony of them. At all times 
 the weasel is greatly attached to its young, and will 
 boldly fly at any object which it fancies may injure its 
 property, and at such times, although so small, it can 
 do no little injury by its sharp teeth and indomitable 
 perseverance. But when a colony takes a fancy to 
 attack any object, be it man or beast, the attack then 
 becomes exceedingly dangerous. Some time since, a
 
 WEASEL. 117 
 
 person riding by an old wall, saw a gentleman fling- 
 ing his arms about, leaping up and down, and alto- 
 gether acting in a manner that caused the rider to 
 fancy him mad. He accordingly got off his horse to 
 examine the matter, and see if he could render any 
 assistance. When he arrived, he saw that these ex- 
 traordinary gestures were caused by the attack of a 
 number of weasels, which were running up the gen- 
 tleman's body, and striving instinctively to reach his 
 throat. His arms were so occupied with tearing them 
 off and throwing them away, that he had no time for 
 killing any of his foes. A few strokes from the whip 
 of the new performer in the scene killed as many 
 weasels, and the rest, seeing that a reinforcement had 
 arrived, took to flight. The help came only just in 
 time, for the gentleman said that he was all but ex- 
 hausted with fatigue, and could not have held out 
 much longer. The cause of the attack was this : He 
 had been passing near the old wall, when he saw a 
 weasel running about. He began to tease the animal, 
 which, finding itself unable to escape, uttered a scream, 
 at which about fifteen other weasels issued from the 
 crannies of the wall, and commenced an attack, which, 
 had it not been for the timely succour, would, in all 
 probability, have cost him his life. There are several 
 similar anecdotes on record. 
 
 The impudence and self-possession of this little 
 animal is almost unequalled. During my first initia- 
 tion into the mysteries of shooting, in my school 
 days, I was engaged in the noble sport of torn-tit 
 shooting, when a small animal ran along the bottom 
 of a hedge. I instantly fired, but missed the little 
 creature, which turned out to be a weasel, who ran 
 out of the hedge into the middle of a footpath not 
 ten paces distant, sat up on its hind legs, put its fore 
 paws on its nose, and looked at me with a kind of air 
 that seemed to say, " Fire away if you like, I don't 
 care." There it sat until I went towards it, when it 
 very leisurely took its departure. 
 
 That incident occurred a long time ago, but another
 
 118 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 incident showing quite as much coolness took place re^ 
 cently. Service was being celebrated in one of the 
 Oxford churches, when a weasel made its appearance 
 at the priest's door in the chancel ; it walked leisurely 
 into the middle of the floor, and sun-eyed the scene 
 with great composure. It then left the church, but in 
 a few minutes returned, bringing with it a frog, which 
 it deliberately ate in the church. This is more extra- 
 ordinary, as the service is choral, and the weasel might 
 have been expected to feel some terror at such un- 
 wonted sounds. He had probably just caught the 
 frog in the churchyard, where they abound. 
 
 The weasel is not only a determined hunter, as has 
 been before related, but also a most crafty one. In 
 some cases, it bands with other weasels, and the whole 
 pack hunt some devoted animal, which rarely escapes 
 from a band of such bloodthirsty and persevering 
 foes. 
 
 As long as it is engaged in the pursuit of land ani- 
 mals, such as rats and mice, the affair is simple enough, 
 as the animal has only to persevere, and its acuteness of 
 scent is tolerably certain to lead it to its prey. But 
 when it comes to pursuing birds, who could escape by 
 a single effort, the matter is very different. How the 
 weasel succeeds in such cases is told by Mr. St John, 
 who actually saw a bird caught by a weasel. In a 
 stubble field was a certain thistle. Several buntings 
 were flying about the field, and occasionally settling 
 on this thistle. Presently, a weasel made its appear- 
 ance, and hid itself at the foot of the thistle. He 
 thought at first that the weasel had gone into a hole, 
 but as he suspected, from the little animal's manner 
 that it was after some mischief, he waited to see the 
 result. Presently, a bunting came and perched on the 
 thistle, but no sooner had it settled, than the weasel 
 sprang up the thistle, and ran off with the bird in its 
 mouth. 
 
 In general, the weasel is not to be tamed, although 
 there are records of tame weasels, and in one case the 
 animal appeared thoroughly domesticated, and would
 
 STOAT. 119 
 
 leap into the hand of its mistress from a considerable 
 distance. 
 
 The female weasel is rather smaller than the male, 
 and of a deeper red. Many persons have taken it for 
 a distinct animal, and in some parts of England it is 
 called a " cane." 
 
 STOAT. 
 
 THIS animal is not unfrequently confused -with the 
 weasel, why, it is difficult to say, as the size of the 
 two animals is so very different, the stoat heing consi- 
 derably larger than the weasel. The stoat is also known 
 under the name of the Ermine, whose beautiful fur 
 is in such universal request. The fur of the stoat 
 changes, during the winter, from its usual brown tint 
 to a beautiful white, with the exception of the tail, 
 which retains its blackness, and adds so much to the 
 beauty of its fur. A very low degree of cold is required 
 to produce this change in the fur ; and the rapidity of 
 the change appears to be in proportion to the severity 
 of the cold. In one of the Arctic expeditions, a rather 
 cruel experiment was tried upon a Lemming. It was 
 placed upon deck, and exposed to the full severity of 
 the temperature, at that time about 30 degrees below 
 zero. By the next morning, a patch on each of its 
 shoulders had become white, together with its cheeks. 
 Day after day, the white patches continued to enlarge, 
 until, at the end of a week, the whole of the fur had 
 become white, with the exception of a dark band 
 extending across the shoulders and down part of the 
 back. 
 
 This experiment, showing that in some cases the 
 hair itself changed colour, of course led to other ex- 
 periments of the same nature. Their results showed 
 that sometimes the hair itself did change colour, but 
 that in most cases the fur was actually changed, the 
 white hairs supplanting the brown at the beginning of 
 winter, and again giving place to the brown hairs, 
 when the warm weather commenced. Probably, if a
 
 120 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 very violent change in the weather or temperature 
 takes place, the colour of the existing hairs may 
 change, but if the temperature alters gradually, the 
 hairs may be renewed. 
 
 The cold which is necessary to produce this change 
 is so severe, that in the southern parts of England 
 the stoat is very seldom found in its wintry garments, 
 while even in the more northern parts the fur never 
 assumes that snowy whiteness which renders it so 
 valuable, but retains a general dinginess that very 
 much mars its effect. The greater number of those 
 furs used in this countiy are imported from Kussia, 
 Norway, Siberia, and Lapland. In those countries 
 the ermine is eagerly sought after ; and as it cannot 
 be shot, lest the fur should be damaged, there have 
 been many ways invented for taking it without injur- 
 ing its coat. Some hunters take the ermine in traps, 
 which, by letting a heavy log fall on the animal, kill 
 it without injury to its fur, and some prefer shooting 
 it with blunted arrows that stun without piercing. 
 
 So much for the ermine, under which name it must 
 be considered a foreign animal, while under the title 
 of the stoat, it is British. It is veiy common in 
 almost every part of England, and does a great part 
 of the mischief usually attributed to the weasel 
 such as killing the cocks and hens, and breaking 
 the eggs. Yet, in spite of these injuries, it kills so 
 many rats and mice that it is doubtful policy to de- 
 stroy it. The farmers always do destroy it whenever 
 they have a chance ; but farmers in general are not parti- 
 cularly reasonable. They see it carrying off a chicken, 
 and in consequence endeavour to exterminate the 
 whole race of stoats ; they see some birds pecking off 
 the buds of their fruit-trees, and accordingly provide 
 themselves with a gun, put in a tobacco-pipe bowl full 
 of powder, and ditto of shot, fire into the tree, 
 knocking off the offending bird, together with innu- 
 merable buds which are struck off by the spare shot. 
 Whereupon the farmer picks up the bird, ties it to a 
 stick, sets the stick in the ground, and goes home
 
 STOAT. 121 
 
 rejoicing that he has saved his huds. Now, man 
 of science ! is your time for urging conviction on 
 the farmer. Pick up all the buds knocked off by the 
 shot ; take a penknife and open the bird's craw, take 
 out all the buds found therein, and lay them by the 
 side of those knocked off the tree ; and show the far- 
 mer that his shots are less discriminating than the 
 bird; for every bud picked by the bird will have a 
 little maggot in it, that would not only have destroyed 
 that bud, but would have been the parent of hun- 
 dreds more ; while the buds shot off the tree are 
 mostly quite sound. Then take him into the garden, 
 and make him examine the tree cut up by the shot, 
 how many twigs are hanging down, struck through by 
 missiles intended for the bird, and which would 
 have produced buds next year had they lived ; let 
 him see the furrows made by the shot in the bark, 
 which will spend the energy of the tree in repairing 
 damages, instead of producing fruit; and when you 
 have summed up the whole affair, of course you have 
 converted him. Hear his answer : " I dwont care for 
 your fine words and your science, I dwont. If I sees 
 any bridlings a yeatin' of my buds, I'll shee-yute un, I 
 will." And he keeps his word. Moral. Don't try to 
 feed swine with pearls. 
 
 Now, although it is strongly inculcated upon the 
 farmer that he ought to preserve the stoat, it would 
 be an utterly hopeless task to endeavour to impress 
 the same notion on the minds of boys. There is 
 hardly any sport so exciting to boys as a stoat-hunt, 
 whose fascinations even surpass those of rat-hunting. 
 I well recollect many an afternoon spent in stoat- 
 hunting, during which time, I must be allowed to say, 
 that the time was spent most innocently, for we never 
 killed the stoat. The last hunt of that nature hi 
 which I was personally engaged was a very exciting 
 one, accompanied by no small fatigue, for the animal 
 led us an astonishing chase from one hedge to 
 the other, under a constant fire of " cockshys," i. e. 
 short stout clubs, about eighteen inches long and as
 
 122 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 thick as a man's wrist. Nothing seemed to disturb 
 the equanimity of the stoat, who evidently thoroughly 
 despised the whole affair, until a missile of a more 
 formidable nature came crashing through the bushes, 
 close by his head. This was a very heavy geological 
 hammer, having the pick-axe part flattened out for the 
 convenience of digging in fi'osty ground. After this 
 intimation, he redoubled his speed, and after some 
 time, at last got cleverly away. 
 
 As an example of the absorbing interest of a stoat- 
 hunt, I will only mention that a dignitary of the Uni 
 versity and a surgeon of the city were seen rushing 
 down the Broad Walk in full chase of a stoat, having 
 left behind them some ladies, with whom they had 
 previously been walking, to wait until they returned. 
 The stoat escaped. 
 
 The stoat hunts its prey by scent, just as has been 
 already related of the weasel. A very interesting 
 hunt was seen in the forest of Bere. A hare came 
 out into the road, and from its appearance seemed to 
 be listening in fear for something behind her. The 
 spectator naturally imagined that the hare was pur- 
 sued by a dog ; but as he did not hear any sounds, 
 he determined to wait and see the cause of her fear. 
 Soon, a small red and white stoat came in the track 
 of the hare, hunting her footsteps with the utmost 
 accuracy. As it seemed rather remarkable that an 
 animal so small, and so inferior in speed to the hare, 
 should have a chance of catching it, he concealed 
 himself in a bush close by, and determined to see 
 the conclusion of the adventure. For two hours he 
 was a witness to this extraordinary hunt, during 
 which time he saw both pursuer and pursued more 
 than forty times. They were often out of sight for 
 five or ten minutes ; but the hare constantly returned 
 to the same place, and as constantly her inveterate 
 pursuer came on her track. At last the hare began 
 to be fatigued, and endeavoured to escape by dashing 
 into the thickest coverts she could find ; but all in 
 vain, as the lithe agile body of the stoat pierced the
 
 STOAT. ICHNEUMON. 123 
 
 thickets -with less exertion than the hare required. 
 It is well known that, before a hare is taken by dogs, 
 she utters a scream. The concealed spectator now 
 heard her beginning to cry as if she were quite in 
 despair ; but she was still evidently endeavouring to 
 escape. At last, as the cries continued to come from 
 one point, he concluded that the stoat had at last 
 caught the hare ; and on* going to the spot, he found 
 the hare lying dead, and the stoat fastened on her 
 neck with such eagerness that it did not hear his ap- 
 proach. With his stick, he killed the stoat, and 
 brought both animals away with him. 
 
 It seems very remarkable that the hare should not 
 have started off in a straight line, and trusted en- 
 tirely to her speed ; as, had she done so, no stoat 
 could have tracked her for many miles, and a run of 
 four or five miles would have been but a trifling exer- 
 tion to her. The poor creature appeared to have lost 
 all its faculties, and to have been weakened by abso- 
 lute terror. I think my readers will agree with me, that 
 the gentleman who had amused himself for two hours 
 with this hunt, ought to have suffered the stoat to 
 enjoy the meal which he had worked so hard to pro- 
 cure. 
 
 ICHNEUMON. 
 
 OF the Ichneumon there is little to be said. The 
 fabulous histories of this creature are tolerably well 
 known, that is, most people know that the ichneumon 
 Avas accused of destroying crocodiles by getting down 
 their throats ; but very few have seen the original 
 words in which the accusation was made. I therefore 
 insert it here. 
 
 ' Now there is in Egypt a certain bird called cro- 
 chillus, whose nature is to wait upon the crocodile, 
 and, with her beak and claws, gently and with a 
 kinde of delight, to pull out the remnants of the meat 
 sticking in the crocodile's teeth; wherewithal, the 
 crocodile being pleased, openeth his mouth wide to
 
 124 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 be thus cleansed by this bird, and so, falling fast 
 asleep gaping, watched all the while by the vigilant 
 eye of the ichneumon ; perceiving him to be deeply 
 plunged into a senseless security, goeth presently 
 and walloweth in sand and dirt, and with a singular 
 confidence entereth into the gate of death, that is, the 
 crocodile's mouth, and suddenly pierceth like an arrow 
 through the monster's wide throat, down into his 
 belly. 
 
 " The crocodile, feeling this unlooked-for evil, 
 awaketh out of sleep, and in a rage, or madness, void 
 of counsel, runneth to and fro, far and wide, plung- 
 ing himself into the bottom of the river, where find- 
 ing no ease, retumeth to land again, and there 
 breatheth out his intolerable poyson, beating himself 
 with all his power, striving to be delivered from this 
 insufferable evil. But the ichneumon careth not for 
 all this ; sitting close upon the liver of the crocodile, 
 and feeding full sweetly upon his entrails, until, at 
 last, being satisfied, eateth out her own passage 
 through the belly of her hoast. The self-same thing 
 is related by Plutarch ; but I wonder for what cause 
 the beast should rowl herself in sand and dirt to en- 
 ter into the crocodile's belly. For, first of all, if, after 
 her rolling in dirt, she dry herself in the sun, yet will 
 not that hard crust be any sufficient armour of proof 
 to defend her small body from the violence of the 
 crocodile's teeth ; and, besides, it increaseth the qxian- 
 tity of her body, making her more unfit to slide down 
 through the crocodile's narrow throat ; and, therefore, 
 the authors cannot be but deceived in ascribing this 
 quality to her when she is to enter into the crocodile, 
 but rather, I believe, she useth this defence against 
 the asp, as Aristotle saith ; and, therefore, the author, 
 seeing her so covered with mud, might easily be mis- 
 taken in her purpose. For it is true, indeed, that 
 when she seeth the asp upon the land, she calleth 
 her fellows, who arm themselves as before said before 
 the combat, by which means they are safely preserved 
 from the bitings of their enemies; or, if it be true
 
 ICHNEUMON, OTTER. 125 
 
 that they wallow themselves in the mud, they do not 
 dry themselves in the sun, but while their bodies are 
 moist, slide down more easily into the crocodile's 
 belly." 
 
 OTTER. 
 
 THE Otter is another of our persecuted animals, whose 
 approaching extirpation is a reproach to England. 
 Careful as the English are to lose no opportunity for 
 increasing the weight of their pockets, and ingenious 
 as they are in turning everything to some useful pur- 
 pose, it does seem most extraordinary that an ani- 
 mal which might be rendered so useful has been 
 hunted and persecuted until it is almost entirely 
 driven out of England. If the trace of one poor 
 stray otter should be discovered, all the neighbouring 
 population are up with guns and hay-forks, and dogs, 
 enough to withstand a French invasion ; and after 
 searching the place near which it was seen, they suc- 
 ceed in killing it between them, and bring it home 
 with as much triumphant demonstration as if they had 
 killed a tiger at least. 
 
 Why should it be killed ? Why should we not use 
 the natural instinct of the otter in our service? "Sic 
 vos non vobis," said Virgil, many years before these 
 days : the bees make honey for us ; the birds lay 
 eggs for us ; the sheep give their wool for us ; the 
 oxen plough the fields for us. \Vhy then should we 
 not make the otter take fish for us ? We tame the 
 lightning and make it our messenger; can we not 
 tame the otter : we can walk unharmed beneath the 
 water ; why should we not train the otter a very little, 
 and make him bring out the fish that he takes below 
 the surface ? Surely we are not less intelligent than the 
 Hindoos, and they employ otters regularly in their ser- 
 vice. Moreover, the otter has more than once been tamed 
 in England, and taught to catch fish for its owner. 
 The Hindoos have a regular system of training for 
 these animals. Of course they commence their in- 
 structions at a very tender age ; and the first lesson
 
 126 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 learned is, that the otter must give up eating fish. 
 This is managed by mixing bread and milk with the 
 fish, and gradually diminishing the quantity of the 
 fish, until, at last, the otter feeds on bread and milk 
 alone. Having reached this step, the otter is then 
 taught to fetch and carry like a dog ; and when it has 
 attained a certain proficiency in that art, a leathern 
 model of a fish is thrown into the water, and the 
 otter taught to bring it out. By degrees dead fish 
 are substituted for the model, the otter being always 
 chastised if it attempts to eat, or even tear, them. 
 At last, it is permitted to go in after living fish, which 
 by this time, it has learned to carry in its mouth with- 
 out hurting them. 
 
 When in its native state, it kills and carries away 
 many more fish than it can eat, merely biting off the 
 flakes of flesh at the back, of the neck. This trait of 
 epicurism is very valuable to the poor people who 
 live near the rivers where otters dwell, as they often 
 find fine fish on the banks veiy little injured. In one 
 place in Scotland, the otters invariably left a fine sal- 
 mon every morning lying on a particular spot, much 
 to the gratification of the poor people living near, who 
 used to find the otters excellent purveyors, and did 
 not object to eating the fish, because the otters had 
 bitten out a piece for themselves. 
 
 The whole body of this animal is admirably adapted 
 for the aquatic life which it leads. Its body is long and 
 much flattened; the tail is also flattened, and from 
 its length and shape is admirably adapted as a rud- 
 der. The feet are broad and webbed ; and the legs 
 are so loosely articulated, that they can be turned in 
 any direction while the animal is swimming. Aided 
 by these advantages, the movements of the otter while 
 in the water are most graceful and easy, and appear to 
 be executed without the smallest effort. The animal 
 slips into the water quite as noiselessly as if it were oil, 
 and emerges in the same easy manner, hardly leav- 
 ing a ripple on the surface. Not the least extra- 
 ordinary part of its aquatic performance is the man-
 
 OTTER. 127 
 
 ner in which it turns a summersault below the surface 
 of the water without appearing to check its speed. 
 I have more than once seen an otter in pursuit of a 
 fish pass under its prey, and then by a quick stroke of 
 its tail, turn completely over, seizing the fish in the 
 course of the manoeuvre. In order to retain the slip- 
 pery prey when it has caught them, the teeth of the 
 otter are very long, sharp, and pointed ; even the back 
 teeth being furnished with sharp points. 
 
 The chase of the otter is very exciting, and affords 
 no small degree of sport. Dogs are generally trained 
 for this especial purpose, as well they may be, for it 
 requires a dog of no ordinary skill and courage ; first, 
 to turn an otter out of its camp of refuge, and after- 
 wards to attack it. Even putting aside the difficulty 
 of getting hold of an animal which is able to pursue 
 and capture fish in their native element, the otter is 
 not easily secured when it is seized. Its jaws are so 
 powerful, and its teeth so strong, that it has been 
 seen to break the leg of a stout terrier at a single 
 bite. Its own firr, too, is very thick, and in some 
 measure defends it from the bites of its enemies. 
 The only way to get at the otter is to watch it when 
 it dives, and the moment it raises its head above the 
 surface to make it dive again, and so on, until the 
 poor animal is thoroughly exhausted, and crawls out 
 upon the bank. Even then may the otter bear the 
 motto, "Nemo me impune lacesserit," for it greets every 
 foe with the most severe bites, fighting with violent 
 pertinacity to the very last. It is also very tenacious 
 of life, and even when it has been struck through with 
 an otter-spear, after being baited for several hours, it 
 has been known to inflict the most severe bites on the 
 staff of the spear. 
 
 Many- persons have succeeded in taming otters, 
 who would attach themselves to their masters like a 
 dog, fawning upon them, and accompanying them in 
 their walks. One of these tame otters so far fol- 
 lowed the nature of a dog as to display a great pre- 
 dilection for gooseberries, and would pHly with the
 
 1Q8 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 feet of its owner like a young puppy. Another per- 
 son possessed a tame otter, which used to fish for its 
 own living, always returning to its master. One day 
 the animal was taken to the river by his master's son. 
 It entered the water as usual ; but when called it re- 
 fused to obey the command, and remained in the 
 water. Some time afterwards, the owner of the ani- 
 mal, who had been away from home, returned, and 
 upon hearing of the loss of his pet, went to the river- 
 bank and gave the accustomed call. To his great joy, 
 the otter responded to the call, and came crawling out 
 of the water to his feet. 
 
 An otter, belonging to a man of the name of Camp- 
 bell, was so extremely tame, that, whenever it was 
 alarmed by strange dogs, it would endeavour to 
 spring into its master's arms for protection. This 
 animal was accustomed to catch eight or ten salmon 
 in a day. When it caught them, it always tried to 
 break the fish between the last fin and the tail ; and 
 if the fish were taken away, it instantly dived in 
 search of more. It was equally expert in the sea, 
 where it caught numbers of cod-fish. It would hunt 
 in this manner until it was tired, when it refused to 
 enter the water again. Its master would then feed 
 it ; and after it had taken as much food as it wished, 
 it was accustomed to go to sleep on the spot, and was 
 generally carried home sleeping. 
 
 An account of an otter almost equally tame has 
 been forwarded to me. The account is useful, as it 
 exhibits the sagacity of the animal in starting and 
 catching the fish. 
 
 It used to be taken to a deep rivulet, into which it 
 instantly jumped, and, keeping close by the banks; 
 dived against the course of the stream, and disturbed 
 the fish with blows of its tail. When the fish, thus 
 disturbed, kept close to the bank, the otter did not 
 notice them ; but if one of them darted before its 
 pursuer, it was instantly seized, brought to the surface 
 of the water, probably to lessen the power of its 
 struggles. The otter caught several fish in this man-
 
 OTTER. 129 
 
 ner, and brought them to shore, but resigned its prey 
 with great reluctance, uttering a kind of whining re- 
 monstrance. The animal probably swam against the 
 stream, because fish always lie with their heads in 
 that direction, and would not be so likely to be 
 alarmed by their pursuer, as if it had approached 
 them from the front. 
 
 Mr. Richai'dson gives a very interesting description 
 of an otter that had been for some, time in his posses- 
 sion. " When I first obtained the animal, there was 
 no water sufficiently near to where I lived, in which I 
 could give her an occasional bath, and being appre- 
 hensive that, if entirely deprived of an element in 
 which nature had designed her to pass so considerable 
 a portion of her existence, she would languish and die, 
 I allowed her a tub as a substitute for her native river, 
 and in this she plunged and swain with much appa- 
 rent delight. It was in this manner that I became ac 
 quainted with the curious fact, that the otter, when 
 passing along, beneath the surface of the water, does 
 not usually accomplish its object by swimming, but by 
 walking along the bottom, which it can do as securely 
 and with as much rapidity as it can run on dry ground. 
 After having had my otter about a year I changed my 
 residence to another quarter of the town, where a 
 stream flowed past the rear of the house. The crea- 
 ture being by this time so tame as to be allowed perfect 
 liberty, I took it down one evening to the river, and 
 permitted it to disport itself for the first time since its 
 capture in a deep and open stream. The animal was 
 delighted with the new and re freshing enjoyment, and 
 I found that a daily swim in the river greatly con- 
 duced to its health and happiness. I would sometimes 
 walk for nearly a mile along the bank, and the happy 
 and frolicsome creature would accompany me by 
 water, and that, too, so rapidly, that I could not, even 
 by very smart walking, keep pace with it. On some, oc- 
 casions it caught small fish, such as minnows, eels, and 
 occasionally a trout of no inconsiderable size. When 
 
 K
 
 130 ANECDOTES OF AXIMAL LIFE. 
 
 it was only a minnow or small eel which it caught, it 
 would devour it in the water, putting its head, for that 
 purpose, above the water ; when, however, it had made 
 a trout its prey, it would come to shore and devour it 
 more at leisure. I strove very assiduously to train 
 this otter to fish for me, as I had heard they have heen 
 many times taught to do, hut I never could succeed in 
 this attempt, nor could I ever prevail upon the animal 
 to give me up at any time the fish which she had 
 taken ; the moment I approached her to do so, as if sus- 
 pecting my intention, she would at once take to the 
 water, and crossing to the other side of the stream, 
 devour her prey in security. The difficulty in train- 
 ing I impute to the animal's want of an individual 
 affection for me, for it was not affection, but her 
 own pleasure, which induced her to follow me down 
 the stream, and she would with equal willingness 
 follow any other person who happened to release 
 her from her box. This absence of affection was, 
 probably, nothing more than peculiarity of disposi- 
 tion in this individual, there being numerous in- 
 stances of a contrary nature upon record. 
 
 " Although this otter failed to exhibit those affec- 
 tionate traits of character which have displayed them- 
 selves -in other individuals of her tribe towards the 
 human species, she was by no means of a cold or un- 
 social disposition towards some of my smaller domestic 
 animals. With an Angora cat, she, soon after I got 
 her, formed a very close friendship, and when in the 
 house was unhappy when not hi the company of her 
 friend. I had one day an opportunity of witnessing a 
 singular display of attachment evinced by this otter 
 towards the cat. A little terrier dog attacked the 
 latter as she lay by the fire, and driving her thence, 
 pursued her under the table, spitting and setting up 
 her back in defiance ; at this instant, the otter entered 
 the apartment, and no sooner did she perceive what 
 was going on, than she flew with much fury and bitter- 
 ness upon the dog, seized him by the face with her
 
 OTTEE. DOG. 131 
 
 teeth, and would, doubtless, have inflicted a severe 
 chastisement upon him had not I hastened to the 
 rescue, and, separating the combatants, expelled the 
 terrier from the room. 
 
 " When permitted to wander in the garden, this otter 
 would search for grubs, worms, and snails, which she 
 would eat with much apparent relish, detaching the 
 latter from their shell with surprising quickness and 
 dexterity. She would likewise mount upon the chairs 
 at the window, and catch and eat flies, a practice 
 that I have not hitherto seen noticed by any natu- 
 ralist." 
 
 DOG. 
 
 FROM what source we derived our domestic Dog is not 
 known, nor is the question a subject for these pages. 
 The original stock is by some supposed to be found in 
 the Dingo, or Australian dog, but as no proofs have 
 been brought forward on either side of the question, 
 we may be content to let the matter rest until proofs 
 are found. 
 
 All the wild dogs possess pointed ears, and carry 
 with them a general wolf-like appearance, which gra- 
 dually vanishes as they are subjected to the influ- 
 ence of civilisation. None would be likely to trace 
 much resemblance between the gaunt, hungry, weird- 
 like dingo, and the sleek King Charles, with its long 
 silken hair, its rounded muzzle, and hanging ears. 
 Those dogs which belong to only partially civilised 
 nations always retain their wolfish look, although in 
 other respects they may be altered. The Esquimaux 
 dog, for example, although it is furnished with long 
 hair and a bushy tail, has still the lupine character 
 of countenance strongly impressed. Certainly, they 
 are riot treated particularly well by their masters, as 
 the following extract from the accounts of a recent 
 vovager to the Arctic regions will prove. The ac-
 
 132 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 count is given in the " Tents of the Tuski," by Mr. 
 Hooper. 
 
 " Some curious but cruel modes of punishing the 
 dogs were witnessed, which one could scarcely sup- 
 pose would ever be invented as a punishment. The 
 dogs turn very sulky and obstinate sometimes ; I 
 have frequently seen them stop short in a most de- 
 termined manner, either offended with their fellows, 
 the road, or the driver, and scarcely any amount of 
 punishment in the regular way will then induce 
 them to budge. If the whip is applied, they throw 
 themselves down on the snow, howl vigorously at 
 first, their cries gradually subsiding into a short 
 moan at each blow. Occasionally a good whipping 
 has the desired effect, and the dog resumes its 
 labour ; but the struggle for supremacy between the 
 master and beast is often protracted and severe. 
 I have seen men who knew the temper of the dog 
 they were about to punish deliberately dispose them- 
 selves to the task, place one foot upon the sledge, and 
 throwing back their arms to clear their dress, rain 
 down blow after blow upon the wretched creature, 
 sometimes for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour 
 continuously ; it is seldom this treatment fails of 
 success, and the beast, if subdued, becomes tractable 
 enough for a long time ; but, on one occasion, 
 a man of a particularly cold-blooded and savage 
 iiatui-e, being displeased with the conduct of one 
 of his dogs, quietly drew his knife, stabbed the 
 dog in two places, unharnessed it, wiped the blade 
 of his knife on his coat, and proceeded on his visit 
 to the ship without the least concern. When ordi- 
 nary modes of chastisement have failed, the pro- 
 ceedings then instituted are very curious indeed. 
 The driver gets off his sledge, seizes the dog which 
 has misconducted itself, and makes a nice little 
 hole in the snow, in which he arranges the unfor- 
 tunate wretch's nose with the greatest care and at-
 
 DOG. 133 
 
 tention to its suitable position. Having thus made 
 due preparation, he pounds away at the snout of 
 his victim with the butt end of his whip, which is 
 generally a piece of heavy flat ivory, in the most re- 
 morseless manner. I used, particularly on first 
 viewing this novel punishment, to be under great 
 fear that the noses of the poor beasts must inevitably 
 be broken or crushed, but no such consequence en- 
 sued, nor had our remonstrances any effect ; punish- 
 ment had been determined on, and it was certainly 
 administered without wavering. If the snow was too 
 soft for the purpose, the man's foot was often put as a 
 support for the victims. This punishment must be 
 dreadful. The dogs know perfectly well what is 
 coming the instant their master touches them, and 
 tremble in eveiy limb. They do not attempt to howl 
 loudly, and when released, only make an occasional 
 short yell as they run ; the most stubborn tempers are 
 subdued in this way. No more trouble will be given 
 in the day's drive, one may be quite assured. It is a 
 most summary way of inducing submission." 
 
 The same lupine expression of countenance is also 
 seen in the dogs belonging to the American tribes. 
 These creatures are put to much the same uses as they 
 are in the Esquimaux country, and are treated with very 
 little less consideration than the wolves that prowl 
 round the skirts of the village. The poor animals 
 hover round the tents, and pick up whatever scraps 
 they can snatch away, as the idea of regularly feeding 
 any living thing but himself never enters an Indian's 
 head. He does not even feed his wife, and can 
 hardly be expected to feed his dog. Moreover, he 
 not unfrequently makes his dog feed him. Dog is 
 considered a delicacy, and is always a prominent dish 
 in their solemn feasts, or when the Indians wish to 
 show themselves particularly hospitable. On such oc- 
 casions, the Indian slaughters his faithful companion 
 without the slightest remorse. There are several 
 ways in which these dog-feasts are conducted. First,
 
 134 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 there is the dog-dance, in which the liver of the dog 
 is suspended to a pole, just as it is taken out of the 
 animal. The Indians then dress themselves in all 
 their paraphernalia of feathers, scalps, and such like 
 ornaments, and commence a slow dance round the 
 pole, each as he passes it biting off a piece of the 
 liver suspended on the pole, until it is entirely con- 
 sumed. Then there is another most singular feast, 
 in which dog-meat takes a prominent part. There is 
 a very peculiar .god of the Indians, who is always hot 
 when the weather is cold, and cold when the weather is 
 hot. He then has to be worshipped in his own peculiar 
 manner. The worshippers dress themselves in long 
 pointed caps, not unlike those worn by the unfortunate 
 wretches under the power of the Inquisition. They 
 then kindle a large fire, and hang over it a cauldron 
 containing dog-meat. While the water is boiling, they 
 perform a mystic dance, and when it is bubbling up 
 most furiously, each, as he passes, dips his hand in the 
 boiling water, and exclaims, " How cold it is." The 
 next time that the circuit is completed, the same pro- 
 cess is repeated, but this time each throws the boiling 
 water over his naked shoulders, again exclaiming, 
 " How cold it is." After some time consumed in 
 these ceremonies, the meat is supposed to be tho- 
 roughly boiled. Each then takes a piece of the scald- 
 ing meat out of the pot and swallows it, again ex- 
 claiming, " How cold it is." 
 
 The European hunters, who have penetrated into 
 the country occupied by the savage tribes, and have 
 become familiarised with those tribes that still retain 
 their customs, after conquering their first repugnance 
 at eating dog's flesh, have found it very excellent. 
 
 The heads of dogs that infest the streets of Oriental 
 cities also possess the wolfish look, and no small 
 amount of wolfish ferocity. It is very unsafe for any 
 one to injure one of these dogs, as it will call its 
 comrades to its assistance by howling ; and in that 
 case the only method of escape is to retreat slowly
 
 '.?UHA DOG. Ida 
 
 down one of the narrow courts in order to escape 
 being surrounded, always keeping the face to the foe, 
 and then to wait until some one comes to drive them 
 away. Not long ago, a traveller, who was well accus- 
 tomed to the East, was rather in a huny, and took a 
 short cut through some byways. As usually happens, 
 the short cut proved a very long one, for a number of 
 these dogs, resenting the intrusion of a stranger on 
 their particular territories, immediately assaulted him. 
 He was forced to stand at bay with his back against 
 a wall, exerting all his energies to the discomfiture of 
 the leader of the pack, a ferocious-looking cur, scarred 
 in all parts of his body by the numerous battles in 
 which he had been engaged. In this position he pa- 
 tiently waited until help arrived, and took this as a 
 warning never to go by a short cut in an Oriental 
 city. These dogs always divide the city into depart- 
 ments, no dog venturing to leave his own department, 
 as if he were ever seen past the boundary, he would 
 inevitably be killed and eaten by those into whose 
 grounds he had trespassed. 
 
 Dogs are generally used for drawing carriages or 
 sledges, and although they do not appear to be formed 
 for that description of labour, they can draw very 
 heavy weights with some swiftness. Before an Act of 
 Parliament forbade the practice, it was quite a com- 
 mon event to see a couple of dogs drawing a small 
 cart, heavily loaded, and not unfrequently drawing 
 the additional weight of a heavy man seated on the 
 cart. The Esquimaux dogs possess equal strength 
 and more speed, as from some experiments that were 
 tried, it was found that three of these dogs could 
 draw a sledge weighing a hundred pounds, and con- 
 taining a man, at the rate of ten miles an hour. When 
 the dogs are very tired, a ruse is practised, not un- 
 like that said to have been invented by an ingenious 
 chimney-sweep, who was engaged in a donkey race. 
 Knowing that blows will often only cause donkeys to
 
 1136 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 go backwards instead of forwards, he tied a bunch of 
 greens to a stick, and, mounting on the animal's back, 
 held the greens about a foot before its nose. The 
 donkey immediately pushed forward to gain the prize, 
 and the sweep (who would have made an excellent 
 schoolmaster) won his race. In a similar manner, 
 when the poor dogs are tired with dragging heavy 
 sledges behind them, they send a woman in front, 
 who dangles a fur mitten in her hand. The dogs 
 think that the mitten is meat, and press forward ac- 
 cordingly. It would be of no use to send a man in 
 front, as the dogs are so ill treated by the male part 
 of the population that they would never believe that 
 any man would feed them, or, indeed, treat them 
 kindly in any way. So the labour of catching, train- 
 ing, and getting the dogs to move, falls upon the 
 women. Indeed, the kind treatment of women and 
 dogs appears to be the natural accompaniment of civi- 
 lisation. In spite of all the ill treatment, the Esqui- 
 maux dog is very faithful, and shows great attachment 
 to its master. 
 
 The courage of many of the races of dogs is well 
 known. The bull-dog, for example, as long as life is 
 left in him, will attack his enemy, and grasp so firmly, 
 that his hold is not always loosened by death. One 
 brutal fellow, the owner of a bull-dog, laid a wager 
 that his dog should attack a bull, and that after he 
 had lost a foot, he would again attack the animal. 
 The experiment was tried, and the courageous animal 
 deprived of a foot True to his instinct, he flew at 
 the bull, hopping along on three feet. Another foot 
 was cut off, and again he attacked his foe. In short, 
 the poor animal lost all his feet in succession, and in 
 that mutilated state dragged himself forward towards 
 the bull. 
 
 Some dogs are trained expressly for lion-hunting. 
 They do not injure the lion much, but are extremely 
 useful for hunting him out from the places where he lies
 
 DOG. 137 
 
 concealed. There is a story well known, of a com- 
 bat between certain mastiffs and a lion. I here give 
 the story in the original words : 
 
 " Of this kinde were the dogs given to Alexander by 
 the King of Albania, when he was going into India, 
 and presented by an Indian, whom Alexander ad- 
 mired, and being desirous to try what vertue was con- 
 tained in so great a body, caused a bore and a hart to 
 be turned out to him ; and when he would not so 
 much as stir at them, he turned bears unto him, 
 which likewise he disdained, and rose not from his 
 kennel ; wherewithal the King being moved, com- 
 manded the heavy and dull beast (for so he termed 
 him) to be hanged up. His keeper, the Indian, in- 
 formed the King that the dog respected not such 
 beasts, but if he would turn out to him a lyon, he 
 should see what he would do. 
 
 " Immediately, a lyon was put unto him, at the first 
 sight whereof he rose with speed (as if never before 
 he saw his match or adversary worthy his strength), 
 and bristling at him, made force upon him, and the 
 lyon likewise at the dog ; but at the last, the dog took 
 the chaps or snowt of the lyon into his mouth, where 
 he held him by main strength, untill he strangled him, 
 do the lyon what he could to the contrary. The 
 King, desirous to save the lyon's life, willed the dog 
 should be pulled off; but the labour of men, and all 
 their strength, was too little to loosen those ireful and 
 deep-biting teeth which he had fastened. Then the 
 Indian informed the King, that except some violence 
 were done unto the dog to put him to extream pain, 
 he would sooner dye than let go his hold ; whereupon 
 it was commanded to cut off a piece of the dog's tail ; 
 but the dog would not remove his teeth for that hurt ; 
 then one of his legs were likeways severed from his 
 body, whereat the dog seemed not apalled. After that 
 another leg, and so consequently all four, whereby the 
 trunck of his body fell to the ground, still holding 
 the lyon's snowt within his mouth, and, like the spirit
 
 138 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 of some malicious man, chusing rather to dye than 
 to spare his enemy. At the last, it was commanded 
 to cut his head from the body, all which the angry 
 beast endured, and so left his bodiless head hanging 
 fast to the lyon's jaws, whereat the King was wonder- 
 fully moved, and sorrowfully repented his rashness in 
 destroying a beast of so noble a spirit, which could 
 not be daunted with the presence of the king of 
 beasts, chusing rather to leave his life then depart 
 from the true strength and magnanimity of minde. 
 Which thing the Indian perceiving in the King, to 
 mitigate the King's sorrow, presented unto him four 
 other dogs, of the same quality and nature, by the 
 gift whereof he put away his passion, and received 
 reward with such a recompence as well beseemed the 
 dignity of such a King, and also the quality of such a 
 present." 
 
 The dogs that are trained to hunt the bear seem to 
 take the most enthusiastic delight in the sport, al- 
 though a bear is hardly ever killed without first sacri- 
 ficing several of his foes, or at least inflicting severe 
 wounds. Few bear-dogs can boast of many battles, 
 and yet show an unscathed skin. The chief danger to a 
 bear-dog is in its first few battles, as it is apt to rush too 
 fiercely on the bear, and thereby exposes itself to the 
 terrific " htrg" which will often squeeze all the breath 
 out of the unfortunate dog subjected to it. When, 
 however, the dog has assisted in the demolition of a 
 few bears, and has probably gained several scars in 
 the encounter, he learns wisdom, and displays the 
 greatest ingenuity in keeping out of the reach of the 
 bear's claws and teeth. He soon learns to hang on 
 the animal's flanks, and harass it in the rear until 
 it is struck by a bullet, or otherwise wounded, when 
 he instantly springs on the back of the wounded bear, 
 and keeps him employed until another wound can be 
 inflicted. 
 
 Although dogs can be thus trained to the most use- 
 ful purposes, it is much to be regretted that these faith-
 
 DOG. 189 
 
 ful animals are sometimes used for purposes the very 
 opposites of good and right. I do not mean to allude 
 here to those animals who are born and bred merely to 
 afford their masters some gratification, by seeing them 
 tear each other to pieces, or cruelly mangle a harmless 
 and useful animal ; neither do I advert to those dogs 
 which are trained to assist their masters in poaching 
 of game; but to those used for poaching on the re- 
 venues, in other words, the smuggling dogs. For it 
 is true that there exists, or did exist, a regular force 
 of smuggling dogs, by whose help large amounts of 
 contraband goods evaded the Custom-house. 
 
 The manner in Avhich they were employed was as 
 follows : The smugglers, finding that the vigilance 
 of the revenue-officers was too strict for them, decided 
 on employing other means. They accordingly trained 
 a force of dogs, who were taught to travel by night 
 from station to station, creeping under every ine- 
 quality of ground, and always keeping in the shade 
 if the moon was out. They were then taught how 
 to evade the search of men disguised as revenue-ofti- 
 cers, and who punished the dogs if they could catch 
 them. Having taught the dogs to avoid detection, 
 they then fastened the contraband goods on their 
 backs, and trusted to the sagacity of the dog to take 
 them to the appointed station, while they themselves 
 remained quiet and possibly unsuspected at their 
 homes. So cleverly did the dogs manage, that the 
 stratagem had been employed for some time before it 
 was discovered, and even when it had become known, 
 the revenue - officers had no means of detecting the 
 canine smugglers except by a counter-force of dogs, 
 trained to find out those of the smugglers. 
 
 Dogs have not unfrequently been used to convey 
 dispatches of importance concealed in their collars, 
 and have sometimes been employed as postmen on a 
 small scale, comprising in their own persons the 
 various offices of letter-box, post-office, and letter- 
 carrier.
 
 140 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 It is well known that dogs are fond of certain fruits. 
 I have good cause to remember that dogs eat goose- 
 berries. While I was at school, the master had 
 missed much of his fruit, especially his gooseberries, 
 and naturally enough supposed that the thief was to 
 be found among the boys. I was unfortunately pitched 
 upon as the victim, principally because I had been 
 seen eating gooseberries during the week, a weakness 
 which was certainly shared by the whole of my school- 
 fellows, any of whom might have been selected upon 
 precisely the same grounds. In consequence, I have 
 still the most vivid recollection of a very severe casti- 
 gation for the supposed crime of gooseberry-stealing. 
 Only a few days afterwards the master's pet dog was 
 discovered to be the delinquent. 
 
 The same dog was also accustomed to rob the hen- 
 roosts. He used to take out the eggs without break- 
 ing them with his teeth, and carry them into a back 
 yard. When there, he would break them by a blow 
 from his paw, and lick up every particle of the egg as 
 it flowed out. The little King Charles' dog Prince, 
 whose friendship with a cat has been before narrated, 
 was greatly given to robbing the nests of the black- 
 birds and thrushes that built in the grounds. His 
 first plan was to insert his paw into the nest, and 
 scrape out the eggs, but he soon found that he broke 
 the eggs, and lost the contents, which rapidly soaked 
 into the substance of the nest. He therefore changed 
 his tactics, and by biting a hole in the bottom of the 
 riest, he got at tie eggs without breaking them. 
 
 Prince was a wonderful dog in his way, and espe- 
 cially exulted in playing at a game called by boys 
 " **" or " tick," the game in question being a kind 
 of puss in the comer without any corners, the player 
 enacting the part of " tigg" being a kind of perpetual 
 puss, who can only be released from his position by 
 touching one of the others, who immediately takes 
 his place, and becomes a kind- of Pariah, whose touch 
 is contamination. The dog had learned this game
 
 DOG. 141 
 
 capitally, and, to incite him to play, it was only neces- 
 sary to touch him on the back and run away, when 
 the* intelligent little animal would set up a prepos- 
 terous barking, and rush after his human playfellow, 
 never resting until he had seized part of his or her dress 
 in his mouth. He would then avoid being touched with 
 as much skill as he had before displayed, and, indeed, 
 never would have been caught at all were it not that 
 he was very venturesome, and used to jump about his 
 playfellow in defiance. 
 
 Although Prince was one of those unfortunate ani- 
 mals used as lap-dogs, old Topsell would hardly have 
 ventured to launch at him the caustic anathemas 
 hurled so freely on these useless creatures. 
 
 " These dogs are little, prety, proper, and fine and 
 saught for to satisfie the delicateness of dainty dames 
 and wanton women's wils ; instruments of folly for them 
 to play and dally withal, to trifle away the treasure of 
 time, to withdraw their mindes from more commend- 
 able exercises, and to content their corrupted concu- 
 piscences with vain disport (a silly shift to shun 
 irksome idleness). These puppies, the smaller they 
 be, the more pleasure they provoke, as more meet 
 playfellowes for minsing mistresses to bear in their 
 bosomes, to keep company withal in their chambers, 
 to succour with sleep in bed, and nourish with meat 
 at bord, to lay in their laps, and lick their lips as they 
 ride in their waggons ; and good reason it should be 
 so, for coarseness with fineness hath no fellowship, but 
 featness with neatness hath neighbourhood enough. 
 That plausible proverb verified upon a tyrant, namely, 
 that he loved his sow better than his son, may well be 
 applyed to these kind of people, who delight more in 
 dogs that are deprived of all possibility of reason, 
 than they do in children that be capable of wisdom 
 and judgment. But this abuse, peradventure, reign- 
 eth where there hath been long lack of issue, or else 
 where barrenness is the best blossom of beauty." 
 
 Not the least remarkable point in this delightfully
 
 142 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 quaint passage, is the manner in which alliteration 
 has lent her artful aid to the invectives lavished so 
 freely upon the " dainty dames " who indulged in the 
 luxury of lap-dogs. 
 
 A dog belonging to one of my friends was in the 
 habit of accompanying his master in his expeditions ; 
 and 011 such occasions, where the walk had been par- 
 ticularly fatiguing, was in the habit, of acting as pil- 
 low to his master when he rested. On one of these 
 occasions, master and sen-ant had both fallen asleep, 
 and were enjoying their siesta when my friend was 
 awakened by a succession of short whines from his 
 dog. He at first thought that the poor creature must 
 have been injured hi some way; but on looking 
 round, he saw a rat moving about at some thirty yards 
 distant, offering a sad temptation to the dog, who, not 
 daring to. move lest he should awake his master, was 
 watching the rat in a state of intense tantalisation. 
 His master, however, taking compassion upon him, 
 raised his head, when his canine pillow instantly 
 dashed off in pursuit of the rat, who fled for refuge 
 into a ditch full of nettles. In went the dog, and 
 soon returned triumphantly, having put an end to the 
 rat. As, however, the dog was entirely disguised 
 with black mud and stinging nettles, he was not par- 
 ticularly fitted to act the part of pillow again. 
 
 Some years ago, while I was in the latter end of 
 the caterpillar state of Undergraduate at Oxford, and 
 during the earlier portion of the chrysalis or transi- 
 tion state of Bachelor, a dog, called Rory, in honour 
 of Rory O'More, was in my possession. He was 
 not my own property, but chose to attach himself to 
 me, utterly discarding his proper master. He was a 
 large rough black terrier, with hair falling over his 
 eyes, and completely blinding him when wet ; his 
 ears were partly cocked, but drooping at their extre- 
 mities ; and his general black tints were relieved by 
 a white patch on his breast, like a shirt-front appear- 
 ing through a black waistcoat, and another white spot
 
 DOG. 143 
 
 appeared on the end of his tail. Add to this, a general 
 comicality of aspect, a pair of brilliant eyes, and a tend- 
 ency to execute a jig whenever looked at, and you will 
 have a good idea of Rory. He was an Irishman by 
 birth, and seemed to have inherited the Irish love of 
 fun to no small extent, fully appreciating a practical 
 joke. For example : he would sometimes pick out 
 some man going quietly along the street, and would 
 charge at him open-mouthed, looking as if he meant 
 to eat him up, at the very least ; but when he got 
 within a few yards, he would shoot off suddenly to 
 one side, utter a loud sharp bark, and walk off in a 
 very sedate manner, as if he had been doing nothing 
 at all. 
 
 During term time, I never had to feed him, for he 
 was accustomed to wait at the kitchen door every 
 morning, watch for the kitchen boys taking up their 
 breakfasts, and by erecting himself on his hind legs 
 and walking gravely by their side, mostly succeeded in 
 extracting a piece of waste meat. His gift of biped 
 walking was very great : I have often known him 
 walk the whole length of a street upon two legs, 
 merely for his own amusement. Once he did so 
 under rather peculiar circumstances. Rory had few 
 antipathies; but of those few, beggars and fat lap- 
 dogs, perhaps, had the predominance. Indeed, a fat 
 lap-dog was not to be resisted ; and if one came in 
 Rory's way, it was sure to be upset and rolled about 
 until it howled for mercy. One day, just as he had 
 started for a walk, he caught a glimpse of a very fat 
 lap-dog, waddling and wheezing along the street and 
 accompanied by a lady, who seemed to be the model 
 on which her dog had* formed itself. This was much 
 too tempting an opportunity to be resisted, so Rory 
 dashed off at once, and, with the impetus of the 
 shock, sent the little lap-dog rolling over and over 
 in the mud. He then turned it over with his nose, 
 patted it, danced round, and barked at it in ecstasy,
 
 144 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 until its mistress, summoning up courage, snatched 
 up her pet and put it on her muff. 
 
 This was no defence against Rory ; for he imme- 
 diately got up on his hind legs, and walked by her side, 
 making little jumps and snatches at the poor little dog. 
 which was scarcely less terrified than its mistress, who, 
 at last, hoping to drive Rory away, struck at him with 
 the end of her boa. This was great fun for the dog, who, 
 imagining that the old lady wanted to play with him. 
 seized her boa in his mouth, dragged it off her neck, 
 and dashed off down the street with the boa dangling 
 from his mouth; and occasionally getting his feet on 
 it and tumbling head over heels, at which misfortune 
 he gave the boa a shake, and set off with redoubled 
 energy. He was so occupied in his fun that he did 
 not hear me call ; but when he was sufficiently reco- 
 vered from his excitement, and heard the w^ell-known 
 whistle, the sense of his impropriety seemed to strike 
 him, and he returned in the most penitent manner 
 imaginable, decreasing his pace as he approached me, 
 and casting an occasional glance at my stick, while 
 the boa being held at one extremity, was slowly trail- 
 ing in the mud behind bun. He was not quite a year 
 old at that time, so that his conduct was partly ex- 
 cusable on account of the exuberance of his youthful 
 spirits. Nevertheless, I was forced to administer 
 some punishment, or nothing in the shape of a lap- 
 dog or a boa would have been safe. The whole affair 
 did not occupy more than a minute, so that I was 
 unable to rescue either lap-dog or boa until both had 
 suffered. 
 
 The greatest treat that Roiy could have, was to run 
 along the banks of the river while I was in a boat. 
 Once or twice in the interminable long vacation, a 
 fellow-student and myself were accustomed to pull to 
 Nuneham, a place about seven miles from Oxford by 
 water, taking with us guns and provisions for the day. 
 On these occasions, Rory used to run along the
 
 DOG. 145 
 
 banks, exterminating rats by the way, and making a 
 practice of swimming across the river every time he 
 heard a shot. This he evidently considered to be his 
 duty; but he never fetched out a wounded bird, 
 merely contenting himself with barking at it, and then 
 wagging his tail. On one of these excursions, Eory 
 got himself into what may literally be called an un- 
 pleasant scrape. We had landed from the boat, tied 
 it up, arranged our picnic under a shady bush, having 
 fastened the dog to a stake, to prevent him from 
 making too close an acquaintance with sundry moor 
 hens in the distance, whom we did not wish to be dis- 
 turbed. We had just arranged ourselves, when Rory 
 began to whine most piteously. Naturally imagining 
 his distress to proceed from the fact that a cold fowl 
 was in the act of disappearing without his assistance, 
 we did not trouble ourselves about him. The whine, 
 however, soon changed to short yelps of such evident 
 distress, that we got up and went to see what was the 
 matter. On reaching the place where he was tied up, 
 the mystery was explained. The poor animal had 
 scraped up an ant's nest, which had attracted his no- 
 tice, probably from the busy state of the hillock ; and 
 as he had investigated proceedings after the manner 
 of terriers, by poking his nose into the nest and 
 grubbing among the ants, the enraged insects had 
 completely covered his face ; and as the nose is about 
 the most sensitive part of a dog, he was driven 
 almost frantic with their repeated stings. It was 
 really no small work to brush off the multitudes of 
 ants which had congregated on his nose, or had got 
 entangled in the thick masses of hair hanging about 
 his countenance. 
 
 A dog belonging to Mr. Smee met with an accident 
 something of the same nature ; but more severe in its 
 effects, inasmuch as the enemies, although belonging to 
 the same order of insects, were very much more power- 
 ful than those which disturbed the peace of my dog. 
 
 " Last summer, I was walking with my children in 
 
 L
 
 146 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 a lane near Tottenham, and we were accompanied by 
 a small spaniel dog. A wasp's nest had been dug 
 out on one side of the road ; and the parties who dis- 
 turbed it had not destroyed the creatures, but left 
 the comb exposed. A young gentleman who accom- 
 panied us threw a stone at the wasps, and the dog, 
 who delighted to run after a stone, dashed headlong 
 after it into the enemy's camp. The wasps rose in a 
 cloud, and the screams of the dog soon indicated 
 that he had been stung. I called and whistled, and, 
 at last, induced the dog to run ; but still numbers of 
 the irritated creatures kept about him. After he had 
 run about fifty yards, he dropped down apparently 
 lifeless ; and after we had beaten off the wasps, and 
 killed those adhering to the skin, I could neither feel 
 nor hear the heart's action. The New Eiver was 
 near at hand, and it occurred to me that a sudden 
 plunge into the water might rouse him. I dipped 
 him suddenly twice, and we were well pleased to 
 witness signs of returning animation. We carried 
 him home, rubbed him dry, and placed him before 
 the fire ; but it was several days before he reco- 
 vered." 
 
 When Eory first attached himself to me, he was 
 quite a puppy, only numbering about six months ; 
 and, of course, occasionally gave way to many youth- 
 ful frolics which had to be corrected ; but as his days 
 increased in number, so did his wisdom, and at the 
 expiration of two years, he was the most obedient 
 pupil I ever had, always giving the most ready and 
 willing obedience, even if he were told to do any- 
 thing contrary to his own wishes. He had learned 
 all the usual feats of dogs, and had superadded many 
 others; some being entirely of 'his own invention. 
 He was on very good terms with the cat that is, 
 after they had settled their quarrels consequent on 
 his first entrance into the house, and would lie very 
 comfortably on the hearth-rug, while pussy played 
 with his ears. When pussy was not wanted, we used
 
 DOG. 147 
 
 to tell Rory to put her down stairs ; whereupon, he 
 pushed her before him by means of his fore -paws, 
 until he reached the cellar stairs ; and when there, he 
 pushed her down stair by stair, until he saw her safely 
 deposited at the bottom, when he would return, and 
 again lie down before the fire. 
 
 The cat had very good reason to deplore Rory's 
 first entrance. She had a very comfortable bed in 
 the cellar, composed of a large armful of hay in a 
 box. This Rory found out, and coolly usurped the 
 cat's place, to her great discomfiture. Finding, how- 
 ever, that Rory only wanted to find a comfortable 
 bed for himself, and had no wish to turn her out, 
 she overcame her fear, and crept back again; for 
 the box was so large that there was plenty of room 
 for both. After that time, they both used to sleep 
 there. 
 
 Rory took possession of this place in a very curious 
 manner. When he first came, there was an edict 
 against any living animal inhabiting the cellar except 
 the cat; and, accordingly, every evening Rory was 
 turned out of the cellar, and put out of doors, nomi- 
 nally to go to his master. But it was rather a curious 
 circumstance that, although he was turned out of 
 doors, and even locked out, with perfect regularity, 
 he was as regularly found in the cellar next morning 
 before the doors were opened. How he managed to 
 escape the vigilance of the servants, and get into the 
 cellar, was beyond our comprehension ; for the ser- 
 vants, whenever interrogated, always asserted that he 
 had been carefully locked out overnight. However, 
 there he always was found ; and we gave up the prac- 
 tice of turning him out as useless. For several 
 months, the mystery remained unexplained, until one 
 Sunday, as the family were returning from church, 
 they saw the dog in the very act of entering perhaps 
 I should say, that they saw part of him entering. 
 Our house is a corner house, and as the cellarage 
 extends under the entire house and half-way across 
 
 L a
 
 148 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE 
 
 one of the streets, it is of course lighted by windows 
 hi both streets. In the smaller of the two streets is 
 a wooden trap-door, through which coals are shot. 
 One of the boards had become damaged ; and the 
 cunning animal had actually been in the habit of 
 pulling up the defective board, and letting himself 
 drop into the cellar. On Sunday, the dog had been 
 out to breakfast with a friend, and on his return 
 found the doors shut. He, therefore, went round 
 the comer, and put in practice his old manoeuvre. 
 Just as he was disappearing through the aperture, 
 the family came by from church, just in time to see 
 a black tail with a white tip whisking about, and a 
 pair of black legs struggling violently in the air, and 
 then descend through the trap -door. The defective 
 board was immediately repaired; but Rory was al 
 lowed free lodgings on account of his sagacity. 
 
 How he escaped without injury in performing this 
 feat I never could tell. In the first place, the board 
 was a very narrow one, fixed at one end and loose 
 at the other, and must have pinched him sorely. In 
 the second place, after he had forced himself through, 
 he had a clear drop of about eight feet on a heap of 
 coals, whose corners might be supposed to injure him 
 as he fell. But he never appeared hurt in the least 
 by his tumble. 
 
 After this discovery, Rory found where all the family 
 went on Sundays, and instead of getting into the 
 cellar, was accustomed to wait about the streets until 
 service was over, when he would walk to the church 
 door, and accompany the family home. 
 
 I have just mentioned that Rory had gone out to 
 breakfast with a friend. That seems rather an extra- 
 ordinary thing to say of a dog, and requires explana- 
 tion. The fact is, that he had attained such a com- 
 mand over himself, that he would sit on a chair, with 
 his fore-paws resting on the table, and remain perfectly 
 unmoved, even when the leg of a fowl, or some such 
 dainty, was placed on his plate. He had often exe-
 
 DOG. 149 
 
 cuted this feat at my breakfast-table, and had been 
 frequently invested with a cap and gown, in which 
 venerable raiment he used to sit with corresponding 
 gravity, occasionally looking in a very imploring man- 
 ner at us if a particularly fine bone were placed on his 
 plate ; but he never touched it until he had obtained 
 leave. When his habits became known, he was often 
 regularly asked to breakfast by the collegians, and 
 being decorated with cap and gown in a manner 
 similar to that adopted much about the same time by 
 Tiglath Pileser, the Christchurch bear, was accus- 
 tomed to parade the room on his hind legs with the 
 most laudable gravity, and afterwards to take his place 
 at the breakfast table with due dignity. 
 
 He was also perfectly at home at a wine party, and 
 took his port and filberts with gentlemanly ease. He 
 underwent a long course of instruction in cigar 
 smoking, but could never learn that art. Indeed, 
 although he did not mind the dense clouds of smoke 
 that generally accompany, or rather conceal a college 
 wine party, he never could endure a cigar or pipe near 
 his nose, and, whenever one was put into his mouth, 
 sat blinking and patient until the annoyance was re- 
 moved. 
 
 At last he attained to such a pitch of reason, that he 
 was always looked upon more as a companion than an 
 inferior, and if he required instruction, it was gene- 
 rally sufficient to tell him what to do, while if he had 
 done wrong, a gentle remonstrance would throw him 
 into the greatest depression of spirits, and he would 
 crouch flat on the ground, gradually crawling along 
 like a snake, until he reached my feet, on which he 
 would lay his nose, and wait for a word of forgive- 
 ness, when he would start up overjoyed, and appear 
 thoroughly happy. 
 
 Of course, a dog of such capabilities might not be 
 supposed to be very safe in a place like Oxford, where 
 the superabundance of dogs produces a correspondent 
 amount of dealers. Several attempts were made to
 
 150 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 seduce his allegiance. These he indignantly repu- 
 diated, while all endeavours to use force he resisted ; 
 and his teeth were remarkably sharp. If a dog-stealer 
 offered him a piece of meat, he ate it and waited for 
 more ; hut if the man's hand approached his neck, 
 for he was so well known as to need no collar, he 
 quietly bit the man in the wrist and ran away. 
 
 After being acquainted with Rory, one was led to 
 read the Arabian Nights with much less incredulity, 
 for few transformed princes acted with greater pro- 
 priety or wisdom than did Rory ; always excepting the 
 transformed prince, who, under the shape of an ape, 
 gained an introduction at court by his calligraphy, 
 beat the king at chess, complimented him in extem- 
 poraneous verses, and at last, in being re-transformed, 
 destroyed the king's daughter, servant, and palace. 
 
 The last time I saw Rory was under rather peculiar 
 circumstances. I had been resident in the country 
 for several months, but was forced to leave Rory be- 
 hind. One day, I returned to Oxford for a few hours, 
 and was met by Rory, who did not give way to his 
 usual ebullitions of joy, but walked behind me with 
 his nose against my heel until I entered the house, 
 when he lay down before me, put his chin on the 
 ground, and never took his eyes off me the whole 
 time of my stay in the house. When I left, he accom- 
 panied me in the same way, not having given ut- 
 terance to a single sound, or indulged in a single 
 bark. 
 
 At the expiration of the first term, after he had taken 
 up his residence with us, his master sought him for the 
 purpose of taking him back to Ireland, but sought in 
 vain, for, at the first sight of the packed trunks, Rory 
 had taken himself off, and was not to be found. After 
 three or four days, when he imagined that his master 
 had left Oxford, he came back again and announced 
 himself, after his usual fashion, viz. by jumping on 
 the sill of the dining-room window, and knocking at 
 the pane with his tail. This plan he adopted for
 
 DOG. 151 
 
 several years, but at last was outwitted by his master, 
 who laid violent hands on him a day before any one 
 left college, and sewed him up in a hamper. Poor 
 Rory was then carried off to Ireland, under a promise 
 of restoration when his master should again visit 
 Oxford, at which time he was to become our property. 
 A few months ago his master was seen in Oxford, and 
 we immediately went to claim Rory. Alas ! poor Rory 
 had died a month or two before, and great was the 
 grief occasioned by the news. Let this history be his 
 monument. 
 
 Most animals have the power of communicating 
 with their fellows, and of imparting their thoughts 
 to them. This power is much developed in the dogs. 
 There are many cases known where dogs have sought 
 mutual assistance against superior foes. For example, 
 a dog who has been assaulted and injured by a dog of 
 superior size and strength, has been known to go and 
 fetch some companions, and, with their aid, avenge 
 himself .on his assailant. The power of intercom- 
 munication was, perhaps, never better displayed than 
 in the following anecdote, related by Mr. Smee, in 
 his work on " Instinct and Reason:" 
 
 " Three dogs belonging, two to M. G and the other 
 to M. P., of St. Bounet-sur-Galaune, Canton de St. 
 Valair, department of the Drome, went to the chase 
 without their masters. Having pursued a rabbit al- 
 most to an extremity, which took refuge in a burrow, 
 one of the dogs of M. G., carried forward by eager- 
 ness, shoved himself so deeply into this subterraneous 
 asylum, that retreat became utterly impossible. After 
 having scratched to no purpose, in the hope of extri- 
 cating him, the two companions returned home in 
 such a state of sadness and dejection as to be noticed 
 by their masters, who knew not to what to attribute 
 the cause. The next day came a fresh disappearance 
 of the two dogs, which had found the means of join- 
 ing each other. They were seen to return in the 
 evening to their respective domiciles, harassed with
 
 152 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 fatigue, to refuse every sort of nourishment, their 
 paws bloody, and their bodies covered with earth and 
 sweat. At first, no attention was paid to what took 
 place ; but the same procedure being repeated the 
 next and on succeeding days, and M. G. not finding 
 his dog return, the absence of which began to make 
 him uneasy, surprised, moreover, at the daily disap- 
 pearance of his second dog, which only came back at 
 night, and then in the most frightful state, mentioned 
 the circumstance to M. P., who declared to him that 
 his dog had done the same thing for a week. Finally, 
 the day following, M. G. was awakened early in the 
 morning by the cries of several dogs, who scratched 
 at his door. He came down to see what was the 
 matter, and what was his astonishment when he saw 
 his dog, which he thought lost, feeble, languid, and 
 like a mere skeleton, escorted by its two liberators to 
 the residence of its master, and which, seeing it in 
 his care, went to sleep tranquilly on a bundle of straw, 
 scarcely able to move their stiffened limbs. M. G. 
 made researches to discover the place where this 
 touching scene occurred. He found, in fact, that the 
 narrow opening into which his poor dog had forced 
 itself was transformed into a large cavity, the working 
 out of which was evidently due to the intelligence of 
 the two other dogs." 
 
 This is a more pleasing example than those given 
 above, as it places the disposition of the dogs in a 
 very agreeable light, inasmuch as they exercise their 
 reasoning powers, not for revenge, but for the better 
 purpose of mutual assistance. 
 
 There are no guardians so faithful as dogs. Let 
 any one go into the fields at haymaking time, and 
 venture to touch a jacket or basket guarded by a dog. 
 The animal, generally a very small one, immediately 
 sets up a ferocious growl in order to intimidate the 
 intruder, and if that does not succeed, flies at him, 
 and would rather lose its life than suffer the property 
 committed to its charge to be touched. During my
 
 DOG. 153 
 
 school days, there lived a great dog called Nelson, a 
 breed between a bloodhound and mastiff. He used 
 to follow us to the cake shops, and wait at the door 
 for any fragments that might be spared for him. He 
 was very good-natured, and would stand any amount 
 of bullying, a quality necessary in a dog who attaches 
 himself to a number of schoolboys. In the summer 
 months we were accustomed to bathe in that most 
 beautiful Derbyshire river, the Dove. On one such 
 occasion our clothes had been stolen as they lay on 
 the bank, and we had to chase the thief. As we were en- 
 tirely unencumbered with clothing, and the thief being 
 encumbered with our clothes as well as his own, we 
 soon caught him, and, dragging him to the river, 
 tossed him in, and ducked him until he was half 
 dead, when we let him escape, knowing that our 
 clothes were henceforth secure from him. 
 
 But as we wished to secure our garments from any 
 further attacks, we thought we would imitate the con- 
 duct of the haymakers. So we took Nelson with us, he 
 being the only dog that we knew, and when we had un- 
 dressed, we put him in charge. He lay down in the 
 most exemplary manner, and, doubtless, would have 
 made an excellent guardian, had he not been dis- 
 turbed by an unexpected incident. The field was full 
 of cows, and they, seeing a great dog in the field, 
 felt aggrieved, and summoned a council. In a very 
 few minutes, the whole body of cows set up their 
 tails, and charged down upon Nelson. He lay in 
 some perplexity, until one or two almost poked him 
 with their horns, when he lost his calmness of demea- 
 nour, and dashed at the nearest cow. His teeth, 
 however, were nearly gone from old age, and the cow 
 easily shook him off. There was then a grand battle, 
 in which our clothes seemed likely to be trodden to 
 pieces, so we were forced to take them up and swim 
 across the river with them, and deposit them on the 
 opposite bank, where there were no cows. We then 
 got Nelson away, and took him over ; but we never
 
 154 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 trusted afterwards in a big dog to take care of our 
 clothes. 
 
 This attack of the cows on Nelson reminds me of 
 a feat performed by a terrier named Crab, belonging 
 to one of my friends. He was running along the 
 towing-path that edges the Isis, accompanying his 
 master, who was in a boat. Presently, Crab came to 
 a gate. Now, the gate itself would have proved no 
 impediment, but unfortunately two young bulls were 
 standing by the gate, and when he came near, they 
 put down their heads, and strenuously resisted his 
 further progress. Crab waited for a minute or two in 
 some bewilderment, but suddenly made up his mind 
 as to future proceedings. He dashed at one of the 
 bulls, barking savagely at him. The bull, of course, 
 charged, and Crab ran away. When the bull stopped, 
 Crab made another attack, and the bull again charged. 
 After repeating this manoeuvre several times, Crab 
 drew the bull to the other end of the field, when he 
 ran round him, and set to at the other bull. He, of 
 course, charged Crab just as his companion had done; 
 but no sooner had Crab got him away from the gate, 
 than he ran round him, and jumped through the bars 
 of the gate, leaving the bull on the other side quite 
 discomfited. 
 
 Crab was a very clever dog, and exhibited amazing 
 sagacity in getting his own way. While his master 
 was away from Oxford, I generally called to take him 
 out for a walk. Sometimes he evidently thought that 
 his walk was not long enough, and after I had brought 
 him back, he contrived to escape from the house, and 
 follow me. It was of no use to shut him in, so I set 
 people to watch the manner of his escape. The 
 house had a garden attached, and at the bottom of the 
 garden is a river. Into this river Crab jumped, and 
 swam against the stream until he reached a landing 
 place communicating with the road. He then got out 
 of the water, and followed my footsteps. He had one 
 failing, that he was too faithful, for when his master
 
 DOG. 155 
 
 went to call at any house, he would lie down at the 
 door, and assault every one who attempted to enter, 
 as he had some wild idea in his head that no one 
 could possibly enter the house without felonious in- 
 tentions. One day, he missed his master, and set off 
 in search after him. Not being able to find him, he 
 went to one of the houses at which he had called 
 with his master, and, by mounting guard at the door, 
 effectually blockaded the house, not letting any one 
 approach. The master of the house came in while 
 he was lying there, and knowing the dog well, stepped 
 over him, whereupon Crab coolly bit him, an act of 
 fidelity which was not altogether appreciated, and 
 gained him a severe stroke or two with that species 
 of stick denominated a " Penang Lawyer." 
 
 On the whole, Crab was a good dog, and tolerably 
 sagacious in many things ; but he was also, as the 
 preceding anecdote shows, rather obtuse in others. 
 In fact, he was a dog of deep prejudices, and by no 
 means equal to Rory. Probably he would have turned 
 out a better character had he been regularly trained, 
 as Rory was. Among his prejudices was a deeply- 
 rooted one for cats, even extending to those that lived 
 in the same house, with whom he was never on friendly 
 terms, and, indeed, always chased them whenever he 
 saw them, for he never learned self-denial to any ex- 
 tent. One day, while his master was in the garden 
 with Crab, the cat made her appearance, endeavouring 
 to steal behind some of the shrubs out of Crab's 
 sight. In this intention she was frustrated, for the 
 dog caught a glimpse of her, and set off in pursuit. 
 Away went the cat to her usual place of escape, be- 
 tween the bars of an iron grating, through which she 
 generally shot with such rapidity as to leave her pur- 
 suer fretting outside the grating to no purpose. On 
 this occasion, however, she did not succeed in slipping 
 between the bars with her usual agility, and was in 
 consequence intercepted by Crab, who came back 
 with a most self-satisfied air, and deposited at his
 
 156 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 master's feet a considerable portion of the unfortunate 
 cat. To his great astonishment, his exploit was re- 
 warded by a severe kick in the ribs, and a volley of 
 stones, instead of the approbation which he fully 
 thought he had earned. His master then went to 
 see after the poor cat, whom he found lying before 
 the fire in her accustomed place, apparently little 
 hurt by her injuries, which, however, turned out to 
 be of so serious a nature that the most merciful 
 course appeared to be her immediate destruction. 
 Indeed, she could not have lived another day. 
 
 When Crab and Rory first met in my rooms, they 
 conducted themselves in the most absurd way, each 
 evidently considering the other as a rival who had no 
 business there. Crab was very cross, and growled 
 considerably, keeping aloof as much as possible ; but 
 Rory took upon himself to do the honours, put on an 
 air of gaiety, and tumbling over on his back, invited 
 the other to play with him ; but Crab was inexorable 
 for a long time, until the idea seemed to dawn on his 
 mind that Rory was really the owner of the rooms, 
 and then he became reconciled, and had a game ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 I was only bitten once by Crab, an unexampled cir- 
 cumstance among his acquaintance, and that occurred 
 during my first knowledge of him, before the affair 
 that gained his friendship. This was a complete 
 Androcles and lion business. He had been on a col- 
 lege visit, and on leaving the college, he was ob- 
 served to walk lame. No notice was taken for some 
 time: but as his lameness appeared to increase, I 
 called him, and although standing in some awe of 
 him, for he was a terrible dog to bite without warn- 
 ing, lifted up his lame foot, and found a large pin 
 three-fourths buried in the ball of his foot. As it 
 was drawn out, he gave a slight whine of pain ; but 
 after it had been removed, he ran about fifty yards in 
 order to try his foot; came back and licked my hand. 
 Ever after that he allowed me to take any liberties
 
 DOG. 157 
 
 with him, not even resenting that worst of insults in 
 his eyes, namely, taking him by the back of the neck. 
 Why he always resented any attempt to touch that 
 part, I do not know ; but whatever might have been 
 the reason, none but his master and myself ever 
 grasped the back of his neck without being bitten. 
 
 Want of self-control was the bane of his character. 
 He was a capital rat-killer, but he always ate the rats 
 or mice that he killed, and never could be taught to 
 leave them. Now, Rory was equally clever at catching 
 rats and mice, but he always threw them on the 
 ground when dead, and never meddled with them, 
 except, perhaps, an occasional indulgence in rolling 
 over them. His method of rabbit-catching was very 
 singular. He used to dash after the rabbit, and by 
 the force of his rush, knock the rabbit over, when he 
 sprang upon it, and holding it down with his fore- 
 paws, delivered it unhurt into the hands of his master. 
 Before he came into my possession, his master was 
 accustomed to exhibit Rory in the performance of this 
 feat, and for this purpose had procured a rabbit which 
 was used over and over again for the same purpose. 
 At last the rabbit did not care a bit for Rory, but 
 directly it heard its footsteps close behind, would lie 
 down of its own accord, and wait until the dog 
 came up. 
 
 One of the reasons urged against the reception of 
 Rory into the house was, that his four dirty feet would 
 injure the carpets. We, therefore, directly he was 
 admitted, took him and rubbed his feet on the mat. 
 After a few days, he learned to do it himself, and 
 whenever he entered the house, whether the streets 
 were muddy or dry, he invariably rubbed his feet on 
 the mat with great perseverance. 
 
 Rory was essentially a college dog, and, as such, 
 recalls recollections of college dogs as a class. I 
 think that college dogs deserve to be reckoned as a 
 separate class, like shepherds' dogs, for they, as a 
 body, have certain peculiarities that distinguish them
 
 158 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 from all other dogs. It is said that almost any breed 
 of dogs can be trained as shepherds' dogs, and it is 
 quite certain that there is no living species of dog 
 that has not led a collegiate life. 
 
 In the first place, almost every resident member of 
 the University possesses a dog, and many possess 
 several. Indeed, at my own college it was estimated 
 that each member of the college had a dog and a 
 third, while in another college, two dogs and a quarter 
 was the average. In the latter college, the authorities, 
 thinking that the ' rage for dogs was carried to an un- 
 pleasantly large extent, issued a peremptory edict that 
 no dogs were to be allowed in college at all. So all 
 the large clogs were immediately turned out, while the 
 little ones led an unhappy existence in drawers and 
 hat-boxes, until their impatient barks caused their ex- 
 pulsion, accompanied with a fine levied on the purse 
 of their masters. For some time the edict remained 
 in force, until the undergraduates, finding their ex- 
 istence to pass miserably without the presence of their 
 beloved dogs, counselled together how they should 
 procure a repeal of the edict. Various methods were 
 promulgated, such as putting a caricature in the print- 
 shops, petitioning the college, inserting a letter in the 
 Times; but at last the following brilliant scheme was 
 decided on : 
 
 It was well known that the venerable individual 
 who presided over the college was likely to leave the 
 college gates at a certain hour. The conspirators ac- 
 cordingly prepared themselves, and as the authority 
 in question walked through the " quad," he was met 
 by the whole body of quondam dog-owners, being 
 seven-eighths of the entire college, each leading a 
 very small kitten by a blue riband, kittens not being 
 included in the edict issued against dogs. There was 
 no standing this, so the worthy "don" smiled good- 
 naturedly as he met the phalanx of kittens ; and by 
 some wonderful coincidence of circumstances, every 
 dog was reinstated that very day.
 
 DOO. 159 
 
 Now for the character of the college dog in general. 
 The college dog is a very peculiar animal. He is treated 
 as a companion, and conducts himself accordingly, en- 
 tering into all his master's amusements, ensconcing 
 himself quietly behind the netting in the tennis court, 
 watching his play with the greatest eagerness, sitting 
 at the head of his skiff when he rows, lying at the 
 bottom of his canoe when he paddles, or running 
 about his punt as he poles it up the Cherwell or Isis. 
 In the former case, the punt is usually moored to the 
 river side, and the occupant, stretched at ease on cer- 
 tain " long-cushions" belonging to the punt, and in- 
 geniously composed of carpeting and straw, smokes a 
 pipe with a large bowl to save the trouble of filling, 
 and reads a novel until he goes to sleep. In this 
 case, his dog takes upon himself the care of his 
 sleeping master, and guards him against the various 
 practical jokes that a sleeping dogless man is sure to 
 be subjected to. He accompanies his master to the 
 cricket ground, and contemplates the game; or follows 
 him to the " Weirs," where, if his master is not a skil- 
 ful shot, he not unfrequently receives part of the 
 charge intended for a pigeon. He is indifferent as to 
 the means used in transporting him from place to 
 place, being perfectly contented to be carried by his 
 tail, or a leg or his ears, or by a handful of skin, or 
 by any way that comes uppermost. A railway journey 
 is nothing to him, and he luxuriates in a sail. 
 
 By the way, did any of my readers ever see a shore- 
 dog take his first sail ? It is an absurd sight. The 
 dog Crab, mentioned above, had been bred up as a 
 house-dog, and although he was a fearless swimmer, 
 had never been in a boat, until one day, when I 
 determined on taking him with me. So drawing 
 the boat to the bank, I lifted him in. The mo- 
 ment he felt the unsteady movements of the boat, he 
 sprawled about in the most abject way imaginable, 
 and made himself more like a paralytic toad than 
 any animal could be supposed to be. Finding that
 
 160 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 no amount of sprawling would render him steady, he 
 gave the matter up, and spreading out all his four 
 legs, he laid the side of his head on the bottom of 
 the boat, and looked so thoroughly terrified, that, at 
 the risk of upsetting the boat, I was fain to restore 
 him to his usual spirits by throwing him overboard. 
 The moment that he was in the water, he recovered 
 from his alarm, and swam merrily to the river side. 
 It took a long course of instruction to induce him to 
 enter a boat without compulsion. But a regular college 
 dog is completely at home in a boat, whether rowing, 
 paddling, punting, or sailing, and in the last-named 
 description of boat always ducks at the proper mo- 
 ment when the boom gybes, having gained some ex- 
 perience from having been swept overboard several 
 times as the boat tacked. 
 
 To return to the character of a college dog. 
 
 He makes acquaintance with out-college dogs when 
 his master is out of the way, but cuts them dead as ple- 
 beian when his master is with him. He has a general 
 acquaintance with all the college servants, but prefers 
 those attached to the kitchen department, and has an 
 objection to the scout of his own staircase, as he 
 sometimes receives a sly kick from that gentleman in 
 return for the perquisites eaten by the dog, which 
 otherwise would have gone into his own basket. At 
 breakfast, he conducts himself with great propriety, and 
 at a wine party he sits upright on a bracket by the fire- 
 place, and catches with much dexterity pieces of biscuit 
 thrown to him, or supports in a victimised manner 
 a long pipe put into his mouth, which he abominates, 
 but dare not let fall. When his master rides or drives, 
 he runs unlimited distances after him, and returns 
 home covered with mud, whereupon he is sedulously 
 pumped on by the scout until clean. He has no 
 kennel or sleeping place in particular, but passes his 
 nights on the mat outside the door, or in the wine 
 bin, or on the sofa, or on the hearth-rug, if sufficiently 
 fortunate. But in general he is rather afraid of the
 
 DOG. 161 
 
 hearthrug. For collegians always want everything in 
 a hurry, and whenever they want hot water, they put 
 on the kettle, cover the fire-place with the " blower," 
 a flat piece of iron that only admits the air at the bot- 
 tom, and consequently raises a tremendous fire, causes 
 the kettle to boil furiously in about three minutes 
 or so, and makes the boiling water spatter all over 
 the hearthrug, directly the blower is removed. On 
 the whole, the college dog prefers the sofa or the 
 easy chair, which latter article is so large that it can- 
 not be got out of the door, and was, probably, brought 
 into the room in detachments, and there put together. 
 
 If the dog is born in college, he is, together with 
 his brothers and sisters, put on a tea-tray, and carried 
 about to be inspected by the whole college, in spite 
 of the remonstrances of his mother; and being in 
 his early childhood constantly used in the light of a 
 ball, he becomes habituated to all kinds of ill-usage, 
 and when pitched into one of the gas lamps adorning 
 the quad, he curls himself up and goes to sleep. 
 
 In fine, he passes two or three years of unalloyed 
 happiness ; but when he leaves college, his prosperity 
 changes, particularly if there are ladies in the house 
 to which he removes. For. as he is seldom such a 
 dog as a lady patronises, he is banished from the 
 house, and forced to live in a kennel at the end of a 
 chain, at which he tugs furiously, and moans piteously 
 all day and most of the night. No more sitting on 
 brackets for him; no more breakfast parties ; no more 
 games with canine and human playfellows; so he 
 forgets his accomplishment?, arid sinks into a common 
 house-dog 
 
 It frequently happens that the University men leave 
 their dogs behind them during the shorter vacations, 
 and give them in charge of their scout. There was 
 one dog, named " Bob," who always spent his vaca- 
 tions at college. He had an extraordinary passion 
 for running after any object that moved, and would 
 walk about with a stone in his mouth, lay it at 
 
 M
 
 162 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 the feet of any one whom he knew, and look implor- 
 ingly in their face, hoping to have the stone thrown 
 for him to chase. He was so eager in his chase of 
 stones, that, if a pebble were put into a bucket full of 
 water, he would plunge in without the smallest hesi- 
 tation, trusting that his master would pull him out by 
 the tail before he was suffocated. He used constantly 
 to accompany me in my walks, and had plenty of ex- 
 ercise in running after stones. 
 
 Let me here remark that it is a very foolish plan 
 to let a dog run after stones, as his teeth are soon 
 worn away and rendered useless. If a dog must run 
 after something, give him a solid India-rubber ball, 
 which will not hurt his teeth, and which will give 
 him much more exercise than a pebble. However, in 
 those days, I never troubled myself about Bob's teeth, 
 but gave him as many stone hunts as he wished. At 
 last he began to be quite troublesome, for no sooner 
 had he caught the stone, than he came rushing back 
 with it, and was importunate to have it thrown again. 
 One afternoon, he was so very importunate, that I 
 took up a great round pebble, and threw it over the 
 top of a deadset hedge, about seven feet high, and 
 woven so closely that it was not possible to see 
 through it. I then thought that Bob would have 
 enough to occupy him for half an hour at least, in 
 scratching his way through the hedge ; for every one 
 who knew him was quite certain that he would fetch 
 the stone if it cost him half a day's work. Bob, 
 however, managed it in quite a different manner. He 
 retreated about forty yards from the hedge, made a 
 great rush, and sprung at it about four feet from die 
 ground, and striking away the branches with a side 
 blow of his fore feet, he shot through like a cannon 
 ball. In about five minutes, he came back in the 
 same way, bearing the pebble in his mouth. He then 
 commenced a dance in the road, and wanted anotber 
 chase ; so I pretended to throw away a milestone that 
 stood near, on which Bob dashed at it, and com-
 
 DOG. 163 
 
 menced a savage attack, growling and snarling, and 
 endeavouring in vain to make his mouth wide enough 
 to take in the entire milestone. Leaving him thus 
 occupied, I went on my walk, and on my return, 
 found Bob still at work at the milestone, growling 
 with undiminished vigour, and so intent upon his 
 task, that I was obliged to remove him by force. 
 
 It does not appear that dogs have any very correct 
 idea of measurements. A dog will cany a stick across 
 his mouth, and endeavour to pass through a door 
 much too narrow for the stick. One of my friends 
 had a dog who was never happy unless he had a stick 
 in his mouth. The groom was rubbing down a horse 
 in the stable, when the dog came bouncing in over a 
 kind of half door, and looked disconsolate. The 
 groom knew what he came for, and threw a broom at 
 him, which the dog seized in his mouth, and again 
 leaped over the door. But the doorway was much 
 narrower than the length of the broom, and of course 
 struck the door crossways, sending the unfortunate 
 dog on his back into the middle of the stable. He 
 did not attempt to pick up the broom again, but went 
 off to the house, and was diligently employed for 
 several hours in laying his head on the ground, and 
 stroking his mouth with his paws. 
 
 There was a large Newfoundland dog named Nel- 
 son, who had a similar habit of carrying sticks, and 
 as he was a large dog, and consequently earned large 
 sticks, he was a considerable nuisance. He carried 
 the sticks in a very peculiar manner, always holding 
 them by one end, and letting the whole of the stick 
 stand out horizontally at right angles to his jaws, 
 causing great discomposure to pedestrians, against 
 whom the long stick would strike with a sufficiently 
 severe blow, for the dog was always running or jump- 
 ing about, and the stick, of course, described all kinds 
 of figures in the air. Like all Newfoundland dogs, 
 Nelson was passionately fond of water, and once 
 
 M 2
 
 164 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 leaped over a bridge into a mill-race, running a very 
 great risk of being dasbed to pieces by tbe wheel. 
 
 The dog-owner has been already advised not to let 
 his dog run after stones. This caution is more par- 
 ticularly addressed to juvenile dog-owners, who enjoy 
 the sport as much as their four-legged companions. 
 There is another caution that may be given to the 
 owners of dogs, especially terriers, namely, on no ac- 
 count to crop their ears. It is a practice very gene- 
 rally in use, as it is said to improve the beauty of the 
 dog. Now, I cannot see that the beauty of any ani- 
 mal is improved by curtailing it in any of the orna- 
 ments given to it by nature. We certainly cannot 
 improve its beauty by adding or altering any part, as 
 is well and humorously noticed by Southey in his 
 poem on a pig : 
 
 "Again thou sayest 
 The pig is ugly. Jacob, look at him ! 
 Those eyes have taught the lover flattery ; 
 Behold his tail, my friend, with curls like that 
 The wanton pig marries her stately spouse : 
 So, crisp in beauty, Amoretta's hair 
 Rings round her lover's soul the chains of love. 
 And what is beauty but the aptitude 
 Of parts ftarmonious ? Give thy fancy scope, 
 And thou wilt find that no imagined change 
 Can beautify this beast. Place at his end 
 The starry glories of the peacock's pride ; 
 Give him the swan's white breast ; for his horn hoofs 
 Shape such a foot and ankle as the waves 
 Crowded in eager rivalry to kiss, 
 When Venus from the enamoured sea arose ; . . . 
 Jacob, thou canst but make a monster of him ; 
 All alteration man could think would mar 
 His pig perfection." 
 
 If, then, we cannot improve nature by supplying any 
 imagined deficiency, much less can we do so by taking 
 away any imagined redundancy. If we think cropped 
 ears are so beautiful, why do we not crop our own? 
 We do pierce them as it is, and hang superfluous
 
 DOG. 165 
 
 jewels in them, and it would be only one step more to 
 trim them into a more fashionable shape, or to cut 
 them off altogether. Indeed, if the reigning power were 
 destitute of ears, in all probability those organs would 
 become unfashionable immediately, and we should 
 all wear gold ears, just as in the last century people 
 shaved their natural hair from their heads and wore 
 wigs. We made some advance in taste as well as 
 humanity when we discontinued the practice of dock- 
 ing our horses' tails, and snipping our hoi-ses' ears, 
 until they were sufficiently maimed to be fashionable. 
 Indeed, the human mind, when in its primitive state, 
 always appears to connect beauty with mutilation. 
 For example, the South Sea Islanders scarify their 
 bodies, and leave indelible marks of the wounds, 
 imagining that the beauty of the human face is con- 
 siderably increased by a series of black concentric 
 circles on- the cheeks, and a triangle on the nose. 
 One nation thinks a man no man unless he has 
 knocked out his front teeth ; another nation file their 
 teeth to points, making their mouths resemble a 
 double saw. One man chops off his little finger, or, 
 if he wants to be very aristocratic, sacrifices two 
 fingers ; another would think himself plebeian were 
 not his head squeezed up into an apex ; another 
 flattens his nose by artificial means, and another 
 places his beau ideal of female beauty in a foot 
 crippled from infancy, and much more resembling 
 a hoof than the foot of a human being. So in 
 our own country, in late ages, the steps of civilisation 
 have been invariably marked by corresponding steps 
 in humanity, both to man and beast. When men 
 walked about with whalebone coats, shaven heads, 
 and high-heeled shoes, they clipped their horses' ears, 
 cut off his tail, and shaved their poodles. Now men 
 wear their own hair, reasonable boots, and unstiffened 
 coats, give their horses the proper allowance of ears 
 and tail, and permit their dogs to wear as much 
 hair as nature has provided for them. Now they only
 
 166 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 clip their dogs' ears ; and perhaps when they again 
 permit their own beards to grow where nature in- 
 tended them to he, they may allow their dogs to 
 possess their natural allowance of ear. 
 
 With this foolish practice of ear-cropping we may 
 also connect the equally foolish and perhaps more 
 cruel habit of " worming," as it is called. This is 
 the removal of a portion of the tendon from the 
 body of the tongue, which is laid open with the 
 knife, and the tendon extracted. The force used in 
 taking out the sinew is so great that when taken from 
 the tongue it curls about like a dying worm. The 
 object of removing it is to prevent madness, a disease 
 supposed to be caused by the presence of this " worm." 
 The belief is a very ancient one, and is mentioned in 
 a series of Latin poems on dogs, called the " Cyne- 
 geticon," in which it is said that there lies at the 
 root of the tongue a little worm, " mala atque in- 
 condita pestis." The operation is always performed 
 while the dog is young. 
 
 However, putting aside jest, the custom of clipping 
 a dog's ears is not only unreasonable and cruel, but 
 also injurious, often causing deafness, and thereby 
 depriving the animal of one of its chief charac- 
 teristics, viz. quickness of hearing. 
 
 In no degree is the sagacity of the dog more distin- 
 guished than in its willingness to submit to painful ope- 
 rations for the purpose of healing injuries. Most ani- 
 mals require to be bound when any operation is to be per- 
 formed, not having intelligence enough to infer future 
 ease from present pain. The dog, however, has often 
 been known willingly to submit to considerable pain, 
 .and to bear it with a fortitude not often to be found 
 even in human beings. I have already told how a 
 savage bull-terrier permitted me to remove a pin 
 from his foot. A cat in the same condition would 
 not have permitted any one to approach, and if her 
 wounded, foot had been touched, would have re- 
 sisted with all the power of her teeth and claws.
 
 DOG. 167 
 
 It is related that Chabert, the famous fire-king, had a 
 remarkably fine Siberian dog, who, when harnessed in 
 a light carriage, would draw his master twenty miles 
 a-day. This dog he sold for nearly two hundred 
 pounds. Between the time of the conclusion of the 
 bargain the dog fell and broke one of his legs. His 
 master, who was in great need of money, or he would 
 never have parted with his docile companion, was almost 
 in despair at the idea of losing both dog and money. 
 He brought the dog to see a surgeon by night, and 
 regularly introduced him by making the surgeon pat 
 him, and offer his hand to be licked. He then enacted 
 a little pantomime before the dog, in which he first 
 walked lame, then, after calling the surgeon and 
 allowing him to bandage his leg, he walked in his 
 natural manner. He then signed to the dog that he 
 was to remain there, and left the house. When he 
 was gone the surgeon went to the dog, who laid him- 
 self down, submitted to have the fracture reduced and 
 his leg bandaged without a motion, except by once or 
 twice licking the hand of the operator, a kind of mute 
 assurance that he felt confidence in the man who was 
 inflicting pain on him. After the operation he lay 
 quite still, and remained almost motionless until a 
 month had expired, when the limb was found to have 
 healed so completely that the dog did not even limp. 
 He was then sent to the purchaser, who was unable 
 to detect anything in the dog's walk, and, indeed, 
 never discovered that there had been any accident 
 at all. 
 
 Those of my readers who have had the misfortune 
 to break a limb, will fully appreciate the firmness of 
 the dog, in permitting that limb to be handled which 
 shrinks instinctively from the slightest approach. 
 
 I must here mention two examples of the freedom 
 of the dog from that fear of fire that possesses most 
 animals. One is, of course, the famous fire-dog, Tyke, 
 who owned no particular master, but lived indiscri- 
 minately with the firemen, sometimes choosing to
 
 168 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 live with one and sometimes with another. He was a 
 regular attendant at every fire, and always was seen in 
 the thickest crowd, arid where the press was greatest. 
 His enjoyment of a fire was extreme, and he contrived 
 in some mysterious manner to avoid being trodden 
 upon or injured, except by a dash of water from the 
 engine, which he rather enjoyed than otherwise. One 
 day a magistrate happened to hear of the dog, and 
 expressed a wish to see him. A messenger was ac- 
 cordingly dispatched, and Tyke soon made his ap- 
 pearance, borne in the arms of a policeman. He was 
 not easily persuaded to leave his house, and the only 
 way to get him out was to make a fireman run up the 
 street in a hurry. Tyke immediately set out after 
 him, but on seeing the man slacken his pace, he 
 knew that there was no fire, and turned back again 
 indignantly. The messenger found that he could not 
 be induced to go any further, so he was obliged to 
 pick up the dog and carry him. Tyke lived for many 
 years in the pursuit of fires, all the men attached to 
 the fire-brigade being willing to feed and lodge him 
 as long as he chose to remain. Tyke was a rough 
 terrier, of rather a grim and tattered appearance, in 
 consequence of his mode of life. He died only a 
 short while since, and his death was recorded in the 
 papers. 
 
 The second fire-loving dog is in existence now. He 
 goes a little further than Tyke in his habits. Tyke 
 when going to a fire was in the habit of mounting on 
 the engine, but this dog makes a constant practice of 
 riding on a locomotive engine making long journeys. 
 He passes a life of constant vibration between two 
 distant places, going and returning every day, and 
 always sitting on the engine. He is a wiser animal 
 than an unfortunate bull, who had formed a very 
 erroneous idea of an engine. The animal had con- 
 trived to stray upon the line, and on seeing a train 
 approaching at full speed, conceived that it was an 
 intruder into his domain. He accordingly plunged
 
 DOG. 169 
 
 forward to assault it, and met the engine with his full 
 force. As may be imagined, he was dashed to pieces, 
 portions of his body being flung completely over the 
 fence that borders the line. 
 
 The cur-dog is properly a breed between the sheep- 
 dog and terrier, but the term is generally applied to a 
 cross breed between any two varieties. The nonde- 
 script dogs about the streets are properly mongrels, 
 but are usually called curs. They present mix- 
 tures of almost every variety of domestic dog, the 
 terrier always predominating. Perhaps the most ex- 
 traordinary mixture of breed is that between the mas- 
 tiff and greyhound. With the exception of the bull- 
 dog, it is impossible to imagine two species of dogs 
 that would present a greater contrast than these. The 
 greyhound is entirely made for speed, to which pur- 
 pose all his make is subservient ; his head is slender 
 and pointed ; his ears small ; his hair close, so as to 
 present but little resistance to the air; his limbs long, 
 flexible, and elastic ; his chest large and deep, to hold 
 plenty of air; his hinder quarters are reduced to 
 the smallest size possible compatible with strength, 
 and are apparently composed of nothing but bone 
 and sinew. The mastiff, 011 the other hand, is a 
 generally large dog, majestic in his gait, and quiet in 
 his disposition. His head is large, and furnished 
 with large drooping ears, while his upper lip hangs 
 over the lower jaw ; his joints are large and powerful, 
 and in most respects he presents a great contrast to 
 the greyhound. Yet we have an anecdote of a dog of 
 this extraordinary breed which indicates that such a 
 breed might be a very useful one, although rather a 
 strange one in appearance. Perhaps in this country 
 the strangeness of look would procure its greatest 
 recommendation, for a dog always seems to be valued 
 in proportion to its ugliness. A Scotch terrier is 
 considered handsome in proportion to the shortness 
 of its legs, the length of its body and hair, and the
 
 170 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 depth to which its eyes are buried in the tufts of hair 
 over its face. If, in addition to these beauties, it 
 barks at everything and everybody, and bites every 
 stranger that enters the house, it is thought a perfect 
 dog. and its master a fortunate man. 
 
 The dog in question was born at California, and, 
 by the account of Dana, by whom his memory is 
 preserved, was a great acquisition to the men who 
 were engaged in the very laborious occupation of 
 cleansing, drying, and shipping hides. The father 
 of the dog was a. mastiff, and his mother a greyhound. 
 The union of these parents produced a beneficial re- 
 sult, for the dog possessed the speed and agility of 
 his mother, combined with the strength, powerful 
 jaws, and heavy fore-quarters of his father. An 
 English sailor who happened to see him, declared 
 that he was very like the Duke of Wellington, whom 
 he had once seen at the Tower, and in consequence 
 of this remark, he was immediately dignified with the 
 name of " Welly," and became the prime pet of the 
 men ; and, in consequence, the tyrant over the other 
 dogs, of whom they had plenty, of almost every breed 
 in the world. 
 
 He was particularly fond of chasing the coatis,* and 
 was known to have killed two of these animals in 
 single combat. The coatis afforded fine sport to the 
 sailors when they had finished their day's work, and 
 were only engaged in cutting and carrying wood. If 
 a coati dared to indulge in the smallest bark, or rather 
 yelp, all the pack of dogs were after him in an instant, 
 Welly always taking the lead, and keeping several 
 lengths ahead, followed by the remainder of the pack. 
 It was useless to run after the dogs, and they soon 
 came back after their chase. 
 
 Speaking of greyhounds calls to mind the charac- 
 teristics of a good greyhound, as represented in an 
 ancient " Treatise perteynynge to Hawkynge, Hunt- 
 
 * Probably the " Coyote," a kind of wolfish dog, or doggish 
 wolf, inhabiting California.
 
 DOG. 171 
 
 ynge, &c., emprynted at Westmestre by Wynkyn de 
 Worde, 1496." The qualifications are as follows : 
 
 " A greyhounde should be headed lyke a snake, 
 And neckyd lyke a drake, 
 Fotyd lyke a cat, 
 Tayled lyke a ratte, 
 Sided lyke a teme, 
 And chyned lyke a bream. 
 The fyrste yere he must learn to fede, 
 The second yere to feld him lede, 
 The thyrde yere he is felon lyke, 
 The fourth yere there is none syke ; 
 The fifth yere he is good ynough, 
 The syxth yere he shall hold the plough ; 
 But when he is come to the ninth yere, 
 Have him then to the tannere ; 
 For the best hound that ever bytch had, 
 At the nynth yere is full bad." 
 
 So the poor dog is rewarded for his nine years of 
 faithful service by giving up his skin as soon as his 
 limbs lose their speed. 
 
 The cross breed with a bull-dog was first adopted 
 by Lord Orford, towards the latter end of the last 
 century. He saw that his greyhounds, although they 
 were very fleet, were yet deficient in courage and per- 
 severance. He therefore procured a cross between a 
 bull-dog and greyhound, and found that after six or 
 seven generations, the external peculiarities of the 
 bull-dog were lost, while his courage and perseverance 
 were left, the dog never leaving his chase until he 
 fell from exhaustion. The example thus set, the 
 practice has been continued to the present day. 
 
 The speed of the greyhound is exceedingly great, 
 as it has been known to try its speed against that of 
 a race-horse, and was only beaten by a neck, after a 
 severely contested race. This in an animal with so 
 much shorter stride than the horse is very remarkable. 
 Another greyhound performed a feat even more dif- 
 ficult. The speed of a swift dromedary was being 
 tried: it left all the horses far behind, but a grey- 
 hound voluntarily joined it, and kept pace the whole
 
 172 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 way, and when it had returned to the starting point, 
 lay down completely exhausted. 
 
 Mr. Youatt, the writer of a very instructive book on 
 dogs, has recorded the deeds of a pair of greyhounds 
 in his own possession, showing that this peculiar 
 kind of dog is by no means inferior in sagacity to 
 the other dogs. They were especially devoted to 
 stealing meat, a crime which was doubly injurious, 
 first, because they robbed him of his meat, and 
 secondly, because they were likely to make them- 
 selves too fat for coursing. They even contrived to 
 steal meat while actually boiling. There was a boiler 
 in a room adjoining the kennel, where the meat for 
 the dogs was cooked. These greyhounds were accus- 
 tomed to steal into the cooking-room, raise the lid of 
 the boiler, seize any projecting piece of meat, and 
 before the heat could injure them they whirled it on 
 the floor, and waited until it cooled, when they de- 
 voured it leisurely. This plan having been discovered, 
 the lid of the boiler was furnished with an iron rod 
 passing under the handle and tied to the handle of 
 the boiler on each side. Only a few days elapsed 
 before the dogs had learned to gnaw the cord asunder, 
 and to help themselves as before. Iron chains were 
 then substituted for the cords, and the meat was 
 cooked in safety for nearly a week. But the ingenuity 
 of the dogs was not to be baffled. They continued to 
 raise themselves on their hind legs, and by applying 
 their strength at the same moment, pushed the boiler 
 fairly off the fire, and set it rolling over the floor, 
 when, although the iron chains prevented them from 
 getting at the meat, they were enabled to lap up the 
 broth as it streamed over the floor. At last they were 
 sent away, to the great relief of the man under whose 
 care they were placed, for he was afflicted with sundry 
 fears that they were not beings of this world, or that, 
 at least, they were possessed by evil spirits. 
 
 The faculty of dogs for remembering time is very 
 singular. There are so many anecdotes of the dog's
 
 DOG. 173 
 
 capability for distinguishing Sunday from an ordinary 
 week -day, that I shall scarcely mention the circum- 
 stance, only confirming it by two examples. One 
 was llory, who never tried to follow us on Sunday, 
 and if shut out of the house he would sit upon the 
 door-step, or lie on the window-sill, until the time ap- 
 proached when the service would be concluded. He 
 then went to the door of the churchyard, and came 
 home with us. The other is a small dog belonging 
 to a clergyman, who, not possessing the discrimination 
 of Rory, would follow his master to church, and if 
 driven away always got in again. The annoyance 
 was so great that the dog was obliged to be placed in 
 confinement during church-time. This answered very 
 well for one Sunday, but on the next the dog was 
 missing, and his master went to church. Just as he 
 was about half through his sermon he happened to 
 cast his eyes downwards, and saw his dog sitting up- 
 right in the middle of the church, looking up at him 
 with the greatest composure. 
 
 There are few things more amusing than a dog in 
 a complete state of perplexity, when he is balanced 
 equally between two opinions, and cannot make up 
 his mind as to which he shall follow. Some boys 
 who were joint owners of a dog that is, the dog 
 was the property of their father, and they of course 
 considered him as theirs were wont to amuse them- 
 selves in the following curious manner : They put 
 him in the middle of a yard, and then, each going to 
 opposite sides, called the dog at the same time. The 
 poor animal, not knowing which master he ought to 
 obey, stood turning his head first on one side and 
 then on the other, until a louder call than usual gave 
 him a pretext for running to him who had uttered it. 
 But no sooner had he taken a few steps than a still 
 more peremptory call was given from the other side, 
 and the dog came back again. This process was re- 
 peated until the perplexed animal sat down in the 
 middle of the yard, and began to yelp and whine in
 
 174 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 a piteous manner, until he was released by being 
 permitted to reach one of his masters without being 
 called back by the other. 
 
 This is not intended as a systematic work, and 
 there is, therefore, no particular arrangement observed 
 in treating of the different animals. I shall therefore 
 make no apologies for closing these Doggiana with a 
 few anecdotes, showing certain traits of character as 
 exhibited in different descriptions of dogs. 
 
 The greyhound, of which I have spoken before, 
 when improved by an admixture of the bull-dog, is 
 extremely persevering in its pursuit of game, an in- 
 stance of which is shown in the following anecdote, 
 extracted from a sporting publication : "A gentleman 
 of Worcester paying a visit to a friend a few miles 
 distant, took with him a brace of greyhounds, for the 
 purpose of a day's coursing. A hare was soon found, 
 which the dogs chased for several miles, and with 
 such speed as to be very soon out of sight of the 
 party who pursued ; but after a very considerable 
 search, both the dogs and the hare were found dead 
 within a few yards of each other ; nor did it appear 
 that the former had caught the hare, as no marks of 
 violence were discovered upon her. A labouring man 
 whom they passed said he saw the dogs turn her two 
 or three times." 
 
 There was a famous greyhound named Snowball, 
 on the Incus a non lucendo principle, his colour being 
 a jet black, and singularly glossy. This dog (who, 
 with his brother and sister, was never beaten) was 
 once started after a hare. The chase was so severe, 
 that of the three dogs who took part in it, Snow- 
 ball was the only one who could endure it. One 
 stopped, when the hare began a second time to 
 ascend a steep hill a mile in length, and the other 
 having fallen from exhaustion, was only saved by 
 immediate bleeding. Snowball kept up the chase by 
 himself, and finally killed the hare in a village. The 
 length of the chase, not counting the various turns,
 
 DOG. 175 
 
 but merely reckoning from point to point, was full 
 foul 1 miles, two miles being run up a steep hill. 
 
 The next anecdote exhibits the sense of gratitude 
 in a dog. The animal had been left by its master 
 under the charge of his sen-ants, while he himself 
 went away on a visit. The servants were on board 
 wages, and naturally did not injure the dog by giving 
 him too much to eat. The poor animal, finding board 
 wages anything but agreeable, made friends with the 
 cook belonging to a friend of his master, and received 
 a good meal every day until his master came back. 
 When thus restored to his usual rights, he was not 
 forgetful of the favours which he had received, but 
 still kept up his acquaintance, although standing in 
 no need of assistance. Some days after his master's 
 return, he discovered a lonely duck in the street, and 
 naturally imagining that the duck was public property, 
 snatched it up in his teeth, and carried it olf to that 
 kitchen where he had experienced such hospitality. 
 He laid the bird at the cook's feet, with many wag- 
 gings of his tail, and then set off under the pleasing 
 consciousness of having discharged his debt of grati- 
 tude. 
 
 The following anecdote places the character of a 
 dog in a much less pleasing light, and this is the 
 more extraordinary, as the particular species of dog 
 is usually characterised by faithfulness and gentle- 
 ness. The animal in question was a mastiff, and 
 belonged to a butcher, who had reared it from a 
 puppy. From the trade of his master, the dog ob- 
 tained plenty of nourishment. It was apparently ex- 
 tremely attached to its master, and always accom- 
 panied him wherever he went. One day the butcher 
 purchased for the dog a large quantity of horse-flesh, 
 and when the animal had eaten enough, he took up 
 the remainder to put it away for another meal. The 
 dog instantly seized him by the arm, and lacerated it 
 in a frightful manner ; it then, not content with this 
 revenge, quitted the hold of his arm, and flew at his
 
 176 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 throat, where it hung until some hystanders, who had 
 in vain endeavoured to make the dog loosen its hold, 
 tied a rope round its neck in order to strangle it. No 
 sooner did the dog feel the rope than it let go. The 
 butcher thought that the unusually large meal of 
 horse-flesh was the cause of the ferocity of the ani- 
 mal, as it had on all previous occasions conducted 
 itself in a perfectly quiet and gentle manner. Im- 
 pressed with this notion, he prevailed on his friends 
 to preserve the life of his dog, as he considered him- 
 self to be equaHy blamable. 
 
 Eyeiy one knows by sight those Danish dogs that 
 follow carriages, plum-pudding dogs, as they are fa- 
 miliarly named, from whose external appearance the 
 idea of the wafer-spotted toy-horses seems to be 
 taken. 
 
 One of these animals was of a very playful dispo- 
 sition, and particularly rejoiced in chasing sheep, al- 
 though he never hurt them. He was one day amus- 
 ing himself in this manner, and making a flock of 
 sheep scatter in all directions, when a black lamb 
 turned round, and looked him in the face. The dog 
 was quite taken aback, and remained irresolute, until 
 the lamb began to dance about and play with him. 
 This generosity of disposition quite overcame the 
 dog, and he slunk away with his tail between his 
 legs, and appeared thoroughly confused. Presently, 
 his new-made acquaintance began to challenge him to 
 a game of play, by cutting all manner of capers about 
 him. By degrees, the dog regained his composure of 
 mind, and accepted the challenge. Off they went, 
 tumbling over each other, and playing like a couple 
 of kittens. They ran off at such a pace that the 
 boy who was in charge of the flock began to be 
 anxious about his lamb, and went to fetch it. The 
 lamb, however, preferred the company of its new 
 friend to that of the boy, and refused to come. The 
 owner of the dog then tried to assist the shepherd by 
 calling off .his dog, but the dog paid no more atten-
 
 DOG. 177 
 
 tion to his master than -the lamb did to the shep- 
 hel-d. For more than a mile and a half did these 
 two strange playfellows continue their sport ; and as 
 they described a large circle in so doing, the owner 
 of the dog and the shepherd were enabled to cross a 
 stream, by means of a plank, before the dog and 
 lamb came up. When they came to the bridge, the 
 shepherd, after repelling several attempts, on the part 
 of the lamb, to force the passage, succeeded in secur- 
 ing it with his crook, and prevented its escape by 
 tying it up in his plaid. Finding his companion thus 
 subducted, the dog reluctantly obeyed the commands 
 of his master, and slowly followed him from the spot, 
 while the lamb made every effort to follow the dog, 
 and tried to gain its point by jumping into the 
 stream. This adventure had a rather singular effect 
 on the dog, for he ever afterwards abstained from 
 chasing sheep. 
 
 I conclude these anecdotes of dogs with an account 
 given by Mr. Hogg, the famous Ettrick shepherd, of 
 a remarkable dog belonging to him. 
 
 " I thought I discovered a sort of sullen intelli- 
 gence in his countenance ; notwithstanding his de- 
 jected and forlorn appearance, I gave a drover a 
 guinea for him. He was scarcely a year old, and 
 knew so little of herding that he had never turned a 
 sheep in his life ; but as soon as he discovered that 
 it was his duty to do so, and that it obliged me, I 
 can never forget with what eagerness and anxiety he 
 learned his evolutions. He would try every way deli- 
 berately till he found out what I wanted him to do ; 
 and when 1 once made him to understand a direction, 
 he never forgot or mistook it again. Well as I knew 
 him, he often astonished me, for when pressed hard 
 in accomplishing the task that he was put to, he had 
 expedients of the moment that bespoke a great share 
 of the reasoning faculty. 
 
 " On one occasion about 700 lambs, which were 
 under his care at feeding time, broke up at midnight
 
 178 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 and scampered off in three divisions across the neigh- 
 bouring hills, in spite of all that he and an assistant 
 could do to keep them together. The night was so 
 dark, that we could not see Sirrah ; but the faithful 
 animal heard his master lament their absence in 
 words which, of all others, were sure to set him most 
 on the alert, and without more ado he silently set off 
 in quest of the recreant flock. Meanwhile, the shep- 
 herd and his companions did not fail to do all in their 
 power to recover their lost charge. They spent the 
 whole night in scouring the hills for miles around; 
 but of neither the lambs or Sirrah could they obtain 
 the slightest trace. They had nothing for it, day having 
 dawned, but to return to their master, and inform 
 him that they had lost the whole flock of lambs, and. 
 knew not what had become of one of them. On our 
 way home, however, we discovered a lot of lambs at 
 the bottom of a deep ravine, and the indefatigable 
 Sirrah standing in front of them looking round for 
 some relief, but still true to his charge. The sun 
 was then up, and when we first came in view, we con- 
 cluded it was one of the divisions, which Sirrah had 
 been unable to manage till he arrived at that com- 
 manding situation. But what was our astonishment 
 when we discovered that not one lamb of the whole 
 flock was wanting. How he had got all the divisions 
 collected in the dark is beyond my comprehension. 
 The charge was left to himself from midnight, until 
 the rising sun, and if all the shepherds in the forest 
 had been there to assist him, they could not have 
 effected it with greater promptitude." 
 
 WOLF. 
 
 WE now come to a group of animals which, al- 
 though differing in species, are much alike in 
 habits. These animals are the wolves. Few parts 
 of the world are free from them, neither extreme 
 cold nor extreme heat being the smallest protection
 
 WOLF. 179 
 
 from them. There is the red wolf (Canis Alpinus)^ 
 inhabiting Siberia ; the Abyssinian wolf (Canis Simen-. 
 sis) ; the Landgah (Canis pallipes), a wolf inhabit-, 
 ing Nepal and other parts of India; the Prairie wolf 
 (Canis latrans), inhabiting the American prairies 
 (pronounced "peroarer" or "perairer"), as its name 
 implies ; the Coyote or Cajote (Canis ochropus), a 
 small wolf found in California; the American wolf 
 (Canis occidentalis) ; and the Antarctic wolf (Canis 
 antarcticus). So we find these animals ranging 
 through every climate, and inhabiting countries of 
 all gradations of temperatm-e, from the burning heat 
 of the tropics, to the everlasting snows of the Antarc- 
 tic lands. Perhaps the Jackalls should have been 
 added to our list of wolves, and in that case we may- 
 increase our list by the black-backed jackall (Canis 
 mesomelas], and the common jackall (Canis aureus). 
 All of the above-mentioned animals are to be found 
 in the British Museum. 
 
 I shall not in these pages attempt to describe one 
 species of wolf more than another, as the character 
 of all wolves is so very similar. They are excellent 
 examples of a truly cowardly nature. When a wolf is, 
 supported by plenty of comrades, it is a most daring 
 animal, fearing not to attack foes far superior to itself ; 
 but if it is pursued when alone, it instantly becomes a 
 slinking cowardly animal, and often yields the battle 
 easily. Sometimes, however, when it sees no hope of 
 escape, it turns upon its pursuers, and fights with obsti- 
 nate valour until the very last. In no case is tfie cowar- 
 dice of a wolf so conspicuous as when it is taken in a 
 trap. Wolves are at all times very suspicious, and 
 stand in great awe of anything that looks like a trap. 
 There are many authenticated accounts of travellers, 
 who, when met by wolves, would have inevitably been 
 devoured had they not terrified their enemies by 
 letting a piece of cord trail behind their carriage. 
 The wolves were so much afraid of this suspicious- 
 looking piece of cord, that they dared not venture to 
 
 N 2
 
 180 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE 
 
 approach it, lest they should be caught. The hunters 
 take advantage of this trait of character, and when 
 they kill a beast too large to carry away, they keep 
 off the wolves by a similar stratagem. Supposing a 
 iiunter has shot a bison ; he may only want the tongue 
 or a piece of the hump at present ; but next day he 
 may want its skin, or wish to make another meal. 
 Now, if he were to leave the carcass as he shot it, very 
 few hours, or even minutes, would elapse, before it 
 would be converted into a skeleton. 
 
 In order, then, to preserve his prey for himself, the 
 hunter generally places a stick upright in the ground 
 near the carcass, and to that stick he ties by a loose 
 string the inflated bladder of the slaughtered animal. 
 This so effectually terrifies the wolves that, although 
 they run round it all night, they dare not approach it, 
 on account of the bladder, which is blown about in 
 the wind. Sometimes a strip of skin is fastened to 
 the stick, but anything to which wolves have not been 
 accustomed will answer the hunter's purpose. 
 
 The wolves constantly hang on the skirts of the 
 American prairie hunters, and will follow in their 
 track for innumerable miles, subsisting on the offal 
 of the beasts that they kill. There is some reason for 
 this, for in America, as would be the case in all coun- 
 tries where game is so very plentiful, the hunters get 
 very careless, and often slaughter bisons merely for 
 the sake of their hump or tongue, and not unfre- 
 quently merely for practice, leaving the carcass to the 
 wolves. "Mr. Catlin, the enterprising American tra- 
 veller, mentions a party of wolves that followed him 
 on his journey across the prairie. They came " lop- 
 ing" after him all day, and at night, when he made 
 himself a camp under the canopy of heaven, the 
 wolves made their camp a few hundred yards away, 
 and waited patiently until next morning. One of his 
 drawings represents the night-camp, with the group 
 of wolves in the background. They did not attempt 
 to attack him or his horse, but remained about the
 
 WOLF. 181 
 
 same distance from them during their long toilsome 
 march, and their evening's rest in the desert. 
 
 The wolves also hang to the skirts of the herds of 
 bisons, for if one of them becomes weak from illness, 
 or in any way injured, the wolves immediately set at 
 him, and after a brief scuffle of about two minutes in 
 duration, a cloud of hair and dust subsides, and the 
 wolves move slowly away, their abdominal regions 
 looking as round and hard as a cricket-ball. Yet 
 within an hour they will be ready for such another 
 meal. 
 
 When, in spite of all precautions, the wolf is taken 
 in a trap, there is no animal so cowardly. A trapped 
 wolf will allow a man to do anything with him, and 
 will not make the smallest attempt at retaliation. 
 The following extract from Audubon's works will give 
 a tolerable idea of the ferocity and chicken-hearted- 
 ness of the wolf: 
 
 " Two young negroes, who resided near the banks 
 of the Ohio, in the lower part of the State of Ken- 
 tucky, about twenty-three years ago, had sweethearts 
 living on a plantation ten miles distant. After the 
 labours of the day were over, they frequently visited 
 the fair ladies of their choice, the nearest way to 
 whose dwelling lay directly across a great cane brake. 
 As to the lover every moment is precious, they usually 
 took this route to save time. Winter had commenced, 
 cold, dark, and forbidding, and after sunset scarcely a 
 glimpse of light or glow of warmth, one might ima- 
 gine, could be found in that dreary swamp, excepting 
 in the eyes and bosoms of the ardent youth, or the 
 hungry wolves that prowled about. The snow covered 
 the earth, and rendered them more easy to be scented 
 from a distance by the famished beasts. Prudent in 
 a certain degree, the young lovers carried their axes 
 on their shoulders, and walked as briskly as the nar- 
 row path would allow. Some transient glimpses of 
 light now and then met their eyes, but so faint were
 
 182 
 
 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 they, that they believed them to be caused by their 
 faces coming in contact with the slender reeds covered 
 with snow. Suddenly, however, a long and frightful 
 howl burst upon them, and they instantly knew that 
 it proceeded from a troop of hungry, perhaps des- 
 perate wolves. They stopped, and putting themselves 
 in an attitude of defence, awaited the result. All 
 around was dark, save a few feet of snow, and the 
 silence of night was dismal. Nothing could be done to 
 better their situation, and after standing a few minutes 
 in expectation of an attack, they judged it best to resume 
 their march ; but no sooner had they replaced their axes 
 on their shoulders, and began to move, than the fore- 
 most found himself assailed by several foes. His 
 legs were held fast as if pressed by a powerful screw, 
 and the torture inflicted by the fangs of the ravenous 
 animals was for a moment excruciating. Several 
 wolves in the meantime sprang upon the breast of 
 the other negro, and dragged him to the ground. 
 Both struggled manfully against their foes ; but hi a 
 short time one of them ceased to move, and the 
 other, reduced in strength, and perhaps despairing of 
 maintaining his ground, still more of aiding his un- 
 fortunate companion, sprang to the branch of a tree, 
 and speedily gained a place of safety near the top. 
 The next morning, the mangled remains of his com- 
 rade lay scattered around on the snow, which was 
 stained with blood. Three dead wolves lay around, 
 but the rest of the pack had disappeared, and Scipio, 
 sliding to the ground, took up the axes, and made 
 the best of his way home, to relate the sad ad- 
 venture. 
 
 "About two years after this occurrence, as I was tra- 
 velling, I chanced to stop for the night at a fanner's 
 house by the side of the road. After putting up my 
 horse, and refreshing myself, I entered into conver- 
 sation with mine host, who asked if I should like to 
 pay a visit to the wolf-pits, which were about a mile
 
 WOLF. 183 
 
 distant. Glad of the opportunity, I accompanied him 
 across the fields to the neighbourhood of a deep 
 wood, and soon saw the engines of destruction. 
 He had three pits within a few hundred yards 
 of each other. They were about eight feet deep, 
 and broader at bottom, so as to render it impos- 
 sible for the most active animals to escape from 
 them. The aperture was covered with a revolving 
 platform of twigs attached to a central axis. On 
 either surface of the platform was fastened a large 
 piece of putrid venison, with other matters by no 
 means pleasant to my olfactory nerves, although no 
 doubt attractive to the wolves. My companion wished 
 to visit them that evening, merely, as he was in the 
 habit of doing so daily, for the purpose of seeing 
 that all was right. He said that wolves were very 
 abundant that autumn, and had killed nearly the 
 whole of his sheep, and one of his colts, but that he 
 was now ' paying them off in full ;' and added that 
 if I would tarry a few hours with him, next morning 
 he would, beyond a doubt, show me some spoil rarely 
 seen in those parts. We retired to rest in due time, 
 and were up with the dawn. 
 
 " ' I think,' says my host, ' that all's right, for I see 
 the dogs are anxious to get away to the pits ; and al- 
 though they are nothing but curs, their noses are 
 none the worse for that.' As he took up his gun, an 
 axe, and a large knife, the dogs began to howl and 
 bark, and whisked around us as if full of joy. When 
 we reached the first pit, we found the bait all gone, 
 and the platform much injured ; but the animal that 
 had been entrapped had scraped a subterranean pas- 
 page for himself, and so escaped. On peeping into 
 the next, he assured me that ' three famous fellows 
 were safe enough' in it. I also peeped in, and saw 
 the wolves, two black and the other brindled, all of 
 goodly size, sure enough. They lay flat on the earth, 
 their ears laid close over the head, their eyes indicat- 
 ing fear more than anger. ' But how are we to get
 
 184 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 them out?' 'How, sir,' said the farmer, 'why, by 
 going down, to be sure, and ham-stringing them.' 
 Being a novice in these matters, I begged to be 
 merely a looker on. ' With all my heart,' quoth the 
 farmer ; ' stand here, and look at me through the 
 brush.' Whereupon he glided down, taking with him 
 his axe and knife, and leaving his rifle to my care. I 
 was not a little surprised to see the cowardice of the 
 wolves. He pulled out successively their hind legs, 
 and with a side stroke of the knife cut the principal 
 tendon above the joint, exhibiting as little fear as if 
 he had been marking lambs." 
 
 The following account by Mr. Lloyd fully corrobo- 
 rates the preceding instance of the cowardice of an en- 
 snared wolf. A peasant, travelling near St. Petersburg, 
 was attacked by eleven wolves, while he was in his 
 sledge : " At this time he was only about two miles 
 from home, towards which he urged his horse at the 
 very top of his speed. At the entrance of his re- 
 sidence was a gate, which happened to be closed 
 at the time ; but the horse dashed this open, and thus 
 his master and himself found refuge in the court- 
 yard. They were followed, however, by nine out of 
 the eleven wolves ; but very fortunately, at the very 
 instant these had entered the enclosure, the gate 
 swung back on its hinges, and thus they were caught 
 as in a trap. From being the most ferocious of ani- 
 mals, now that they found escape impossible, they 
 completely changed, and so far from offering molesta- 
 tion to any one, they slunk into holes, and allowed 
 themselves to be slaughtered, almost without making 
 any resistance." 
 
 A very interesting account of the marauding pro- 
 pensities of the wolf is given by Major Strickland. 
 He found the wolves sad plagues to him, especially 
 in their mutton-stealing propensities. On one occa- 
 sion he found six sheep missing from his pen, and 
 on going with a lantern to search for them, five of 
 them were found with their throats cut in a very
 
 WOLF. 185 
 
 scientific manner, and the sixth had escaped. This 
 was bad enough, but not so bad as another misfor- 
 tune that occurred to him, when the entire flock was 
 lost. The sheep were allowed to run at large day 
 and night, as in the hot months they would not feed 
 during the day time, but crept into the bush and 
 under the fences for shade. One morning their 
 owner saw from his house a sheep standing on the 
 opposite bank of the river, and being struck with a 
 circumstance so strange as a sheep being found on 
 the bank of a river, although no farm was within two 
 or three miles, he took a canoe, and paddled over. 
 On going to the river, one of his own sheep was 
 discovered lying mangled and dead, and soon after, 
 ten more were found in the same condition. The 
 sheep on the bank turned out to be one of the same 
 flock, that had ingeniously escaped the attacks of 
 the wolves which had destroyed its companions, by 
 leaping into the water and swimming over. Nine 
 more were lying drowned on a shoal down the river ; 
 they had been swept away by the current in endea- 
 vouring to avoid the wolves. Next week, the wolves 
 took away the same number of sheep. The worst 
 of the matter was, that as it was in the hot season, 
 the mutton would not keep, and was, therefore, 
 distributed among the neighbours. 
 
 The same writer records a singular example of 
 courage in a female. His wife's youngest sister had 
 a pet lamb to which she was much attached. This, 
 when it had passed its lambhood, and arrived at the 
 dignity of sheep, was attacked by a wolf. Just then 
 its mistress saw her favourite in the jaws of an 
 animal which she took to be a large dog. She, 
 therefore, took up a large stick, and began to beat 
 the assailant, who, dropping the sheep, and turning 
 round with a snarl, proved to be a wolf. The animal 
 seemed determined to get the sheep, and again at- 
 tacked it, but was beaten off a second time by his 
 courageous foe, who actually followed him down a
 
 186 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 creek, thrashing him and calling for assistance. The 
 assistance now came in the shape of a brother, 
 accompanied by dogs, and bearing a gun. The wolf 
 was not bold enough to withstand this addition to 
 his foes, but ran away with such speed that there was 
 not even time to get a shot at him. 
 
 His accounts of the wolves close with the following 
 anecdote, which I must be permitted to give in his 
 own words : 
 
 "A perilous . adventure once befell my brother-in- 
 law, James. He was a bold brave boy, of ten years 
 old at the time, and was on his return home with 
 a pair of oxen, with which he had been assisting 
 a neighbour, residing about six miles from his 
 father's house. His road lay by the river shore, 
 which was dreary enough at the fall of the year, 
 and on the evening hour ; but the child was fearless, 
 and saw the deepening shades sink into night with- 
 out experiencing anything like apprehension. 
 
 "He was trudging on steadily, singing cheerfully 
 as he walked, when a sound came on the night air 
 that sent a shiver through the young pedestrian's 
 frame the war cry of the wolves. At first he hoped 
 he was not the object of pursuit ; but the hideous 
 uproar came nearer and nearer, and then he knew 
 that he must instantly adopt some plan for his 
 escape. 
 
 " His route lay by the river shore, and he could 
 swim well ; but the night was dark, and he might be 
 hurried into the rapids, and to be dashed to pieces 
 on the rocks was scarcely less dreadful than to be 
 mangled and devoured by wolves. In this extremity, 
 the child lifted up his brave young heart to God, and 
 resolved to use the only chance left him of escape. 
 So he mounted Buck the near-ox, making use of his 
 goad, shouting at the same time to the animal to ex- 
 cite him to his utmost speed. 
 
 " In most cases, the horned steed would have 
 flung off his rider, and left him for wolves' meat
 
 WOLF. ' 187 
 
 without hesitation ; but Buck set off with the speed 
 of a race-horse, as if fully aware of his young rider's 
 peril. Nor was his companion less tartly. Fast, 
 however, as the trio fled, still faster came on the 
 yelling pack behind ; and James could ever hear 
 
 " Their long hard gallop which could tire 
 The hound's deep hate and hunter's fire." 
 
 " Fortunately for him, old Buck heard it too, and 
 galloped on and on ; but still the wolves came nearer 
 and nearer; James shouted to keep them off; the 
 oxen almost flying ; their chains rattling as they 
 went. This clanking sound, to which the hateful 
 pack were unaccustomed, made them pause when- 
 ever they came close upon the oxen, whilst the latter 
 redoubled their speed, till at length these gallant 
 racers left the wolves behind, and finding themselves 
 within a short distance of home, never stopped till 
 they had brought the brave little fellow to his own 
 door. 
 
 " He had felt afraid but once, and that was when 
 those dismal yells first broke upon his ear, and never 
 lost his presence of mind. He trusted in God, and 
 used the means within his reach for preservation, and 
 arrived safe at last. 
 
 " Few boys would have displayed so much sense 
 and spirit, but the boy is almost always the father of 
 the man ; and what James was then, he is now." 
 
 The bite of the wolf is peculiar to the animal, and 
 consists of a sharp snap. This snap it can repeat 
 very rapidly, and the strength of its jaws is so great, 
 that if it bites a man's arm, every tooth pierces to 
 the bone. Wolves drink in a different manner from 
 dogs. Dogs, as we all know, drink by lapping with 
 tlie tongue, but wolves draw the water into their 
 mouths after the manner of horses. These pecu- 
 liarities, together with the obliquity of their eyes, 
 afford good reasons for separating them from the 
 true dogs, of which they were once supposed to be 
 the ancestors.
 
 188 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 The chase of the wolf is very exciting, but is also 
 very arduous, for although it starts with a peculiar 
 shambling gallop, and appears half wearied out, it 
 keeps up this pace for a length of time that baffles the 
 endurance of the best horses, much to the dismay of 
 the inexperienced hunter, who finds that the appa- 
 rently slow gallop is in reality very swift, and that 
 after his horse is thoroughly tired out the wolf con- 
 tinues his provoking gallop just as if nothing had 
 happened. When wolves run, they cany their heads 
 down, their noses to the ground, their tail held low 
 against their legs, the hair of their head and neck 
 standing erect, and their eyes flashing with a furious 
 light. There is only one tiling that wolves seem 
 good for, and that is, that when the hunter is on 
 short commons, wolf venison is by no means a bad 
 thing, and the ribs roasted are thought rather a deli- 
 cacy than otherwise. 
 
 There are innumerable anecdotes of wolves cur- 
 rent, but they all resemble each other so closely, 
 that it is a difficult matter to find any that exhibit 
 any peculiar traits in the lupine character. In all 
 we find the same characteristics repeated ferocity, 
 cowardice and cunning make up the character of the 
 wolf in its native state. 
 
 I say in the native state, because wolves have occa- 
 sionally been taken when young, and tamed. One 
 of these tame wolves, described by F. Cuvier, had 
 been brought up by its master as if it had been 
 a dog, and was treated in the same manner. It, 
 therefore, obeyed its master exactly as a dog would 
 have done, and was perfectly submissive to him. 
 Its master was forced to leave his home for some 
 time, and not being able to take his pet wolf with 
 him, and being doubtful whether the animal would 
 be as submissive to another man, presented it to 
 the Jardin des Plantes. The poor animal always 
 had been distressed at any absence of his master, 
 and it may, therefore, be imagined that when the
 
 WOLF. 189 
 
 confinement of a cage was added to the deprivation 
 of his master's company, the wolf pined for some 
 months. At the end of that time, it reconciled 
 itself to its fate, and made friends with its keepers. 
 Eighteen months after its admission into the Jardin 
 des Plantes, its master visited the gardens. At the 
 first sound of his voice, the wolf recognised him, 
 and being set at liberty by the keepers, sprung 
 upon him, caressing and fawning upon him like 
 a dog. Again master and wolf were separated, and 
 again did the wolf pine for a time. After the space 
 of three years, the master again returned, when the 
 wolf, who had been living happily with a little dog, 
 recognised him, and uttered the most impatient cries 
 until it was released from his cage. It immediately 
 rushed upon its beloved master, placed its fore feet 
 upon his shoulder, licked his face, and threatened 
 its keepers, who endeavoured to remove it, and 
 with whom it had just before been playing. Again 
 his master left it, and this time it was so grieved at 
 the separation, that for a long time its life was sup- 
 posed to be in danger. Gradually its health returned, 
 but it had then lost all its affectionate dispositions, 
 and would suffer none but the keepers to approach, 
 appearing to all strangers an ordinaiy wild wolf. 
 
 I will conclude these anecdotes of wolves with a 
 tragic tale, related by Mr. Lloyd. A pack of wolves, 
 roaming about as usual in search of prey, came upon 
 a sledge containing a woman arid three children. 
 When the woman, who was driving, saw the wolves, 
 she urged her horse to its utmost speed, and drove 
 towards her home, which was not far distant. The 
 hungry energy of the wolves soon enabled them to 
 gain upon the horse, and before long several wolves 
 had ranged alongside, and were on the point of 
 springing upon the occupants of the sledge. The 
 wretched mother, hoping, by the sacrifice of one life, 
 to save the lives of the rest of her family, cast one of 
 the children to the wolves. They instantly ceased
 
 190 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 the pursuit, and flew upon the devoted child, per- 
 mitting the sledge to gain a little on them. But 
 the delay caused by merely devouring a child was 
 very small, as may be well imagined, when it is well 
 known that half a dozen wolves can finish an entire 
 deer in less than ten minutes. Soon the still-hungry 
 pack was again by the sledge, and another child was 
 sacrificed. Once more the tragical scene took place, 
 the third child was cast to the wolves, and during 
 their delay, the sledge reached the village, bearing 
 with it the unhappy mother. Having reached her 
 home, she related the circumstances, and endea- 
 voured to palliate her conduct by describing the 
 dreadful alternative to which she had been reduced, 
 that if the wolves had once sprung upon the sledge, 
 all four must inevitably have been devoured, and 
 that she, therefore, hoped to save the survivors each 
 time that she had sacrificed a child. At the conclu- 
 sion of this recital, a peasant, who had been standing 
 by, said that a mother who would sacrifice her chil- 
 dren in order to preserve her own life, was not fit to 
 live at all. Then taking up an axe, he completed 
 the tragedy by cleaving her skull with a single blow. 
 The man was seized and committed to prison for 
 murder, but was afterwards pardoned by the Em- 
 peror. 
 
 FOX.* 
 
 WHAT reader of ^Esop's Fables, whether in verse or 
 prose, can permit the word " fox" to pass through his 
 mind without a smile either facial or mental ? Every 
 one has read ^Esop, and every one sympathises with 
 the daring rascal who cheats the crow out of her 
 beautiful piece of cheese by the most barefaced 
 flattery, who, Avhen bear and donkey had been laid 
 prostrate by the lion's paw, wheedled himself into 
 the good graces of the king of beasts, and who, when 
 
 * Vulpes vulgaru.
 
 FOX. 191 
 
 be had accidentally lost his tail in a trap from which 
 he Had hardly escaped with life ; with the most un- 
 paralleled impudence, assembled his friends, and re- 
 presenting the common habit of wearing tails to be 
 plebeian in the extreme, recommended them to follow 
 his example, and sacrifice their tails to fashion. 
 
 Then, again, there is the extension of ^Esop in the 
 world-wide story of " Reynard the Fox," a story which 
 we should probably have never known had it not been 
 for the cleverly-stuffed animals in the Exhibition of 
 1851. One of the specimens told the story of that fa- 
 mous fox with great truth and spirit. Since that time, 
 hosts of illustrators have chosen that story for their 
 choicest labours, and some of them, more especially 
 the German artists, have succeeded admirably. There 
 is a book of illustrations by a German artist, which 
 is a model both of skill in engraving, and of power to 
 depict the countenances of brute beasts agitated with 
 human passion. There is one plate hi particular, 
 illustrating the moment when the fox is just about 
 to be hung. He is already mounted on the fatal 
 tree, the rope is round his neck, the cat, who is 
 evidently in high glee at the part which he is called 
 on to perform, is busily tying the end of the rope 
 round a branch, while the other animals are exulting 
 over the fall of their crafty rival. The expression of 
 the countenance of the doomed fox is admirable. 
 There is just that expression that one might imagine 
 Uriah Heep's face to wear while he was declaring 
 himself a Numble individual there is fear, supplica- 
 tion, and. mixed with all, a sort of lingering reliance 
 on his cunning even at the last extremity. Then, as 
 a contrast, the next plate exhibits the fox leaving the 
 royal palace, and walking with haughty tread between 
 a double row of other animals, who are all bowing 
 low to him as he passes. A fruitful subject is master 
 Reynard. 
 
 However fabulous ^Esop's Fables may be, they go 
 very little beyond the stories prevalent among sports-
 
 1 9'i ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 men of the sagacity of the fox, more especially in its 
 cunning in escaping from the hounds. There is one 
 stoiy now before me, in which it is told that a fox 
 escaped from the hounds and got among a dock of 
 sheep. The pack, when they came up, could not 
 discover the scent, nor did it appear thac the fox had 
 left the field. At last, one of the old dogs sprang 
 upon a sheep that was lying on the ground, and 
 began to pull it about and tear it. The attention of 
 the remainder of the pack was drawn by this singular 
 conduct, and they came to see what was the matter, 
 when the fox sprang up, and was making the best of 
 his way off, but was intercepted and killed by the 
 hounds. On examining the sheep, the huntsmen 
 found that the fox had killed it, and, tearing open its 
 abdomen, had crept into the interior, and hidden himself 
 there. 
 
 Such tales as this I am not going to impose on 
 any one who may take up this book; but as the 
 greater part of fox stories are taken from the accounts 
 of hunting, it is no easy matter to choose such as 
 are really authorised from the mass of very doubtful 
 tales with which we are constantly presented. A 
 veiy few anecdotes, therefore, will be related of the 
 fox. 
 
 First, as to the characteristics of the fox. As 
 given by a naturalist, in order to distinguish the 
 animal from the dog, they consist of the lengthened 
 and sharp muzzle joined to a round head, erect and 
 triangular ears, the pupil of the eye linear, like that 
 of the cat, and the long bushy tail. But if we ask a 
 sportsman, he will say that the chief characteristics 
 of a fox are its brush, countenance, and pads, by 
 which he means the tail, head, and feet, which are 
 retained by the fortunate huntsmen who are with the 
 hounds at the death of the fox, and exhibited as 
 trophies. Some sportsmen are so very enthusiastic 
 in the matter, that they preserve a foot for the pur- 
 pose of dipping in their wine to give it a flavour.
 
 FOX. 193 
 
 The scent of the fox, by which the dogs follow its 
 track, is remarkably unpleasant, and so strong, that 
 even an uneducated human nostril can perceive it. 
 I have detected the track of a fox myself by the scent 
 that the animal left behind it. I had good reason to 
 know the scent, having ^on one occasion had rather 
 too much of it. One of my pupils had lost nearly 
 the whole of a fine brood of ducklings by the foxes, 
 and was, of course, in a state of great indignation 
 against them. One morning, while we were in 
 school, a strong and most unpleasant scent per- 
 vaded the air, for which we could not account. Pre- 
 sently a servant came in, " Please, sir, here' s a man 
 got the fox that stole master Herbert's ducks." So 
 we all adjourned to an out-house, where was an old 
 weather-beaten man seated on a sack, round which 
 two gaunt wiiy terriers were jumping and barking. 
 The old man got up from his sack, and after quieting 
 the dogs, announced that he had got the fox. We 
 could see no fox, and asked the old man where it 
 was. He then produced the sack on which he had 
 been sitting, and untied the neck amid a tremendous 
 howling of the dogs. After fumbling about for a 
 chain in the interior, he dragged out a large female 
 fox. The moment the fox was out of the sack, the 
 two dogs flew at it, and had to be kicked out of the 
 shed. Taking this as a hint that they were to let 
 the fox alone, they came back very humbly, and sat 
 down. After the fox had been thoroughly inspected, 
 it was dragged from behind a copper, where it had 
 ensconced itself, and being replaced in the sack, the 
 old man resumed his seat upon it, and looked as if 
 he had done his duty. 
 
 " How did you catch the fox, my good man ? " 
 
 The old fellow gave a kind of scrutinising leer, 
 and then perceiving that none of us were likely to 
 be fox-hunters, gave the following recital : 
 
 " Well, sir, I had a mortal sight o' young chickens 
 and ducks, but somehow they would get lost. Fust, I
 
 104 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 thinks thieves gets 'em, but arterwards * FAWKSES!' 
 says L Well, sir, I did n't know for a long time 
 where the fawks lived ; but at last Tyke here (good 
 dog, Tyke), he finds out the hole. So I takes my 
 spade, and jams it over the hole, and sets Tyke to 
 watch, while I goes home and fetches a pick and 
 Pincher here (good dog, Pincher). Well, sir, I digs 
 and digs, and presently I finds one of my ducklings. 
 So I digs again, and in goes Pincher, and out he 
 logs a fawks' cub. So I digs again, and it was mor- 
 tal hot, and I should a liked a drop of beer uncom- 
 mon almost as hot as to-day, sir. Fawks is a heavy 
 weight, sir, and I Ve walked a many miles." Finding 
 the ruse fail, he continued his tale. " Pincher, he 
 shakes the cub like a good tin, and, thinks I, * You 're 
 ged." When I dug a lot more, in goes both dogs, 
 and brings out another cub. I wish they 'd a kept 
 "em alive, I'd a made half-a-crown out of each on 'em 
 Well, I digs again, and I hears the old fawks a snarlin 
 at bottom of hole, but a wouldn't come out So I 
 calls off dogs, and ties 'em up, and I gets a top of 
 the bank just over the hole, and waits. Fawks 
 thinks dogs is gone, and out she comes. So down 
 I tumbles on her, and how she did kick. Oh ! it 
 makes me thirsty to think on it. I gets holt of her 
 bind legs, and swings her round till she 's as giddy as 
 a mouse in a churn, and then I claps her into my 
 sack, and carries her home. Then I puts Tyke's 
 collar on her, and thinks to myself that 111 take her 
 round the country, and show her to them what has 
 lost their ducks and chickens, and perhaps they will 
 give me summat for ketching the fawks. There 's a 
 many has lost chickens and ducklings, and hens, too, 
 so I shall make summat of she. Lie still, old woman ! 
 Hot day, sir.^* 
 
 " Have you got anything yet ? " 
 
 "Well, sir, I has. Muster Jenkins he give me 
 half a crown, he did, and Muster Bradley, he give me 
 half-a-erowa, and a drink o" beer. Muster Bradley had
 
 vox. 19$ 
 
 lost a sight o' ducks. Master Bronghton, he give me 
 a shilling, and joong Muster Broughton give me a 
 shilling too. More nor a week's wages that, sir." 
 
 " Hare you taken it to Mr. (a gentleman who 
 
 possessed a pack of hounds), perhaps he would give 
 you something." 
 
 "Ah! he'd give me summat, sure enough. He'd 
 give me a horsewhip across my shoulders for killing 
 o' the cobs, he would. No, no ! I shan't take her to 
 he. Got anything for a poor man, sir ?" 
 
 So we gratified bun with a small sum of money, 
 and he got off the sack. " Shall take off her skin, 
 sir, when I get home, and make me a waistcoat for 
 winter. Ah, skin make a beautiful waistcoat." 
 
 " But yon are not going to let her tail hang behind 
 your waistcoat." 
 
 * Oh no, sir ; I shall sell die tail to some gentle- 
 man, sir," said the man with an intelligent side 
 glance, "and hell stick it over his chimney-piece. 
 Come along, Tyke ; Pincher, let the fawks alone." 
 
 The man, fox, and dogs departed ; but die scent 
 unfortunately, did not go with them, and for more 
 than a week hung about die place, so that we had 
 every opportunity of making acquaintance with die 
 odour of a fox. If such be die flavour communi- 
 cated to wine by squeezing a " pad " into it, I would 
 rather be excused from drinking it. 
 
 There are so many anecdotes of die cunning of 
 die fox when pursued, diat space will not permit me 
 to give many of diem. Most people have heard of 
 die clever fox, who, when die hounds were just 
 behind him, leaped over a low wall, and lying fiat on 
 die opposite side, waited until all die hounds had 
 cleared die wall, and were hurrying onwards in eager 
 pursuit, when he leaped back again, and, retracing 
 his former path, contrived to escape, in spite of die 
 effort of die horsemen. 
 
 In die year 1805, a fox was turned ont on Pennen- 
 den heath, and was released just as a company of 
 
 o 3
 
 196 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 riflemen, who were exercising, had entered the heath. 
 The animal, being alarmed at their fire, altered his 
 course, and leaping over a high wall and several 
 fences, made his way into Duke's court, Maidstone, 
 and leaping on a water-butt, scrambled upon the roof 
 of a school-house. From thence he sprung upon a 
 chimney, and seeing his pursuers close at hand, he 
 dropped down it. The chimney was a double one, and 
 in one division there was no fire. Down this the 
 lox scrambled, and hid himself in a funnel in the 
 washhouse chimney. One of the sportsmen dis- 
 mounted, and finding Reynard hi his ignominous 
 retreat, boldly dragged him out, not without con- 
 siderable injury to his hands, and with the help of a 
 friend, forced him into a bag. It seems rather a 
 shame that after such a clever device the fox was not 
 suffered to go in peace ; but we' must suppose that a 
 fox-hunter's ardour is not to be restrained by any 
 question of humanity. So poor Reynard was carried 
 to another heath, and again turned off. This time, 
 all his cunning availed him little, and he was killed 
 in the most approved style. 
 
 This is by no means a solitary instance of a fox 
 taking refuge hi a house. In one case, the animal 
 surpassed the performances of the chimney-descend- 
 ing Reynard just mentioned, as the animal let itself 
 drop down a chimney, at the bottom of which was a 
 fire, and tumbled into the lap of an old woman who 
 was seated hi the chimney-comer smoking her pipe. 
 The poor old woman was terrified out of her wits, 
 and retreated into a corner, followed by the children. 
 The hounds, chased the fox as far as the chimney-top, 
 but did not dare to follow it any further, so some of 
 the sportsmen were obliged to enter the cabin and 
 capture the fox, much to the relief of the terrified 
 inhabitants. This happened in Ireland, where the 
 roofs of the houses are usually so low that a dog can 
 easily jump on them, and the goats, where goats are 
 kept, feed on the grass that grows there.
 
 FOX. 1 97 
 
 Another fox, on being hard-pressed, rushed into a 
 cottage, and sprung into a cradle, from whence a 
 mother had, only a few minutes before, taken her 
 child,- The stratagem was clever, but it did not suc- 
 ceed, for the hounds entered the cottage, and soon 
 dragged the intruder from his lurking place. 
 
 It must not be imagined that the fox lives entirely 
 on the inhabitants of tbe farm-yard. Indeed, if he did 
 so, he would not keep himself in very good condition. 
 He catches rabbits hi plenty, and occasionally a hare, 
 or should be be in a country where deer live, he is very 
 fond of a young fawn. But should these fail, he has 
 no objection to rats, mice, weasels, frogs, or the larger 
 insects, such as beetles and grasshoppers. Indeed, in- 
 sects form a considerable portion of the food of even th*e 
 larger beasts of prey, the lion and tiger not excepted. 
 The fox is also extremely fond of grapes, a fact that 
 is recorded in a well-known fable. He does not only 
 catch rabbits that are wandering from their holes, 
 but digs out the young by the ingenious device of 
 following the scent until he comes nearly above the 
 place where they lie, and he then has only to dig a 
 foot or two perpendicularly, whereas had he begun at 
 the mouth of the burrow, he would have been forced 
 to expend very much more labour. He also watches 
 birdcatchers, or poachers, and comes quietly and robs 
 the snares and limed twigs which have been laid by 
 biped hunters. When he does get into a farm-yard, 
 he makes tremendous havoc, as he silently carries off 
 the poultry one by one, until he is scared by daylight 
 or by sounds as of approaching feet. Sometimes he 
 is so eager, that he is caught, but even in this pre- 
 dicament his presence of mind does not fail him. 
 His usual method is to lie as if he were dead, and then 
 watch his chance of escape. On one occasion, a fox 
 having been surprised in a hen-house, simulated 
 death with such exactness, that the owner of the 
 slaughtered poultry thought that Master Reynard had 
 over-gorged himself, and perished of a surfeit, like
 
 198 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 one of our own kings. Congratulating herself on 
 the fate of the robber, she picked him up by the tail, 
 and threw him out of the hen-house, when the fox 
 picked himself up and scampered off. 
 
 Another time, a peasant, finding a fox in a hen-house, 
 aimed a blow at him, which apparently killed him. 
 The man then took the fox up by the tail, slung him 
 over his shoulder, and carried him out of the farm- 
 yard, intending most probably to decorate his house 
 with the brush, his barn with the head and paws, and 
 his person with, the skin. If so, his meditations 
 were speedily destroyed, for the fox had only 
 shammed death, and finding his inverted position 
 uncomfortable, took measures to relieve himself by 
 administering a severe bite to that part of the man 
 against which his head was dangling. The affrighted 
 peasant immediately dropped the fox, who set off as 
 fast as he could, leaving his would-be captor in a 
 state of mingled fright, pain, and fury. 
 
 Mr. Lloyd tells us of another fox, who displayed 
 as much sagacity in getting out of an, equally bad 
 scrape. The animal had been caught in a pit-fall, 
 and was lying apparently helpless at the bottom. A 
 *ery stout peasant then brought a ladder, and having 
 lowered it into the pit, descended slowly, in order to 
 destroy the fox. Reynard, however, had not the 
 slightest intention of being destroyed, so just as the 
 stout peasant placed his foot on the ground, the fox 
 sprang on his back, then on his shoulders, and from 
 thence to the edge of the pit, thereby deferring the 
 intended execution to an indefinite period, and in- 
 juring, in no small degree, the temper of the man by 
 whose means he had escaped. How differently does 
 a fox, in such a predicament, act from a wolf! The 
 latter animal would have lain quite still, and suffered 
 itself to be knocked on the head with the greatest 
 composure, while the former is ready to seize the 
 smallest opportunity for escape, and to make a good 
 use of it.
 
 rox. 199 
 
 , There are several species of foxes inhabiting 
 various countries. Of these, the Arctic fox (Vulpes 
 Layopus) is the most interesting. This animal changes 
 its coat in the winter, and takes a covering of white 
 instead of the brownish grey colour of its summer 
 dress. At the same time, the hair increases in length, 
 and the animal is further defended from the cold by 
 a quantity of wool, like that on the Alpine hare. 
 The long hair about the head and neck is directed 
 backwards, and gives a singularly swollen appearance 
 to the neck. The soles of the feet are covered with 
 a dense layer of whitish woolly hair, like that seen 
 on the foot of the hare. From this peculiarity, the 
 animal derives its name "Lagopus," signifying "hare- 
 footed." 
 
 The change of fur takes place in June, at which 
 time the white winter's coat is thrown off. Towards 
 the end of September, the brown colour gradually 
 fades into a grey, and by the middle of October is 
 entirely white, but increases in length and thickness 
 for another month. 
 
 The principal food of this animal appears to con- 
 sist of lemmings of different species ; but it also will 
 eat eggs, birds, blubber, and can-ion. If it obtains 
 possession of more food than it can consume at one 
 meal, it hides the remainder, generally in the snow, 
 and afterwards smooths the snow with its nose. It 
 carries this habit into confinement, and always endea- 
 vours to conceal its food. One that was confined by 
 a chain used to put his meat on the floor, and coiling 
 his chain carefully over it, would press it down just 
 as if it had been snow. Of course, as soon as the 
 fox moved away, he unwound the chain. Finding his 
 food thus uncovered, he would turn back, and repeat 
 the operation, often going through the whole process 
 five or six times, until he got very angry, and was 
 obliged to eat the food at once. 
 
 I have seen an Arctic fox go through almost the 
 same manoeuvre. He stole a piece of meat, hid
 
 200 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 it away under a stone, and then tried to look in- 
 nocent. 
 
 This fox has been tamed, and has proved so gentle, 
 that its owners permitted it to go at liberty, and to 
 have free range of their cabins. At meal tunes, it 
 would come and sit by the table like a dog, waiting 
 for any casual gifts. 
 
 The Arctic fox does not drink water, but eats snow, 
 and prepares the snow by rolling it up into small 
 balls, and pressing them with his nose until hard. 
 These little balls adhere to the animal's nose, and 
 are drawn into the mouth with the assistance of the 
 tongue. The flesh of this fox is very frequently 
 eaten, and is considered rather a dainty. The ap- 
 proved method of dressing it is by first par-boiling, 
 and then roasting. This is only when the animal is 
 young, as in after life it becomes very tough, and is 
 so rank, that the water in which it is boiled is suf- 
 ficiently acrid to excoriate the mouth and tongue. 
 
 The same fox, whose unavailing attempts at con- 
 cealing his food with his chain, have been mentioned, 
 was very clever at managing that same chain. When 
 first caught, he lived in a kennel, and as many people 
 were anxious to look at him, he was constantly drawn 
 out by the chain. Feeling considerably annoyed at this 
 treatment, whenever he retreated into the kennel, he 
 gathered up the chain in his mouth, and drew it 
 entirely within the kennel, so that no one who had 
 any regard for his fingers would attempt to take hold 
 of that end of the chain that was attached to the 
 staple at the entrance of the kennel. This species 
 of fox is free from the unpleasant scent of its Euro- 
 pean relative. 
 
 JACKAL.* 
 
 THE name of this animal is a corruption from 
 " Tschakkal," through the French rendering of the 
 
 * Canii aureus.
 
 JACKAL. 201 
 
 same word, " Chacal." The colour of the jackal is 
 a yellowish-grey above, -with yellow legs, a fact from 
 which it derives its name " Canis aitreus," or gold- 
 coloured dog. The yellow fades into white on the 
 6nder parts of the body. 
 
 I mention this animal merely for the sake of intro- 
 ducing two anecdotes, related in " Thirty-six Years of 
 a Seafaring Life." The individual who tells the stoiy 
 was sleeping in a tent about thirty miles from San 
 Francisco. About four in the morning, he was 
 obliged to leave the tent, and go to the village for a 
 light. He very reluctantly left the tent, and issued 
 forth on his errand. He must have looked a very 
 extraordinary figure, for he was wearing an enormous 
 frock over his sailor's clothing. The frock was made 
 of rein-deer's skin, and was long enough to turn up 
 over the feet, and button up at the skirt. To this 
 elegant dress was added a hood composed of the skin 
 of a bear's head, taken off entire, ears and all, so that 
 the person wearing it must have resembled those 
 ancient warriors figured on the monuments of early 
 Greece and Home. In front depended a square 
 lappel, which at night buttoned behind the ears, 
 leaving only the eyes, nose, and mouth free. 
 
 Equipped in this very unique costume, he left the 
 tent. He had only advanced a few steps, when 
 several jackals came up, and were speedily followed 
 by many of their friends, who, forming a circle round 
 him, seemed only waiting for one to set the example, 
 before they ate him. For some time he remained 
 completely terrified, but at last it occurred to him 
 that he had somewhere heard that animals might be 
 frightened away by a man, if he walked backwards on 
 his hands and feet, a description of progression to 
 which they are not accustomed. Acting on this 
 thought, he threw himself on all fours, and keeping 
 his head as near the ground as possible, began to 
 dance about and cut capers never imagined until 
 then, and which would, in all probability, never be
 
 202 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 repeated. As he had anticipated, the jackals were 
 astounded, and after a little edging away from the 
 unknown monster, fled in every direction. 
 
 One more jackal anecdote from the same source. 
 
 The ship was laying in stores of provisions at San 
 Francisco. Accordingly a large tent was erected on 
 shore for salting purposes. In this tent the cooper 
 lived as a guardian to all the beef that was hung 
 about, and had slung his hammock at one end. One 
 day, a large quantity of beef had been killed and 
 hung up in the. tent ready for salting. The jackals 
 scented out the meat, and that same night they got 
 into the tent, and getting hold of a side of beef, 
 brought it down with a crash, thereby waking the 
 cooper. That functionary happened to be a very 
 nervous man, and finding himself unexpectedly sur- 
 rounded with wild beasts, whose numbers and size 
 his fright materially increased, he fired off his musket 
 in a hurry, and throwing his arms about in an agony 
 of fear, seized a great piece of beef hanging by his 
 hammock, and was found senseless by those who came 
 to see the cause of the alarm. Although his senses had 
 gone, his hold had not, for he was clasping the beef 
 so tight that he could not be separated from it with- 
 out some trouble. It is no wonder that the poor 
 man did not recover the effects of the fright for 
 several days. 
 
 BEAKS. 
 
 WE now come to a very different group of animals. 
 The bears are plantigrade animals, that is, they place 
 the whole of their feet upon the ground as they walk. 
 
 Most parts of the globe are inhabited by some 
 species of bear. Even our own island was one of 
 their dwelling places in a time considerably antece- 
 dent to the extirpation of the wolves. 
 
 Our general notion of bears is, that they furnish 
 bear's-grease for the hair. Let none imagine that
 
 BEAR. 203 
 
 they purchase the natural fat of a bear when they 
 buy 1 a pot of " bear's-grease." In the first place, the 
 consumption of the so-called bear's-grease is so great 
 that if all the bears annually killed in every country 
 were to be devoted to that especial purpose, they 
 would not even supply England. Now as nearly the 
 whole of the fat found in a bear is used for culinary 
 purposes, we may imagine that the amount of real 
 bear's fat in England is very small. Of course those 
 few bears that are now and then slaughtered at the 
 London perfumers are not to be taken into considera- 
 tion. Moreovei-, malicious persons do say, that the 
 perfumers keep a bear-skin in the cellar, and that 
 when they slaughter a -'bear," they kill a pig, dress it 
 in the bear's fur, and hang it up at the door. The 
 real composition of the " bear's-grease " is clarified 
 lard, prepared with a few other substances to give it 
 an agreeable scent. 
 
 Let us see what our forefathers thought of the 
 virtues of bear's-grease. 
 
 " The fat of a lyon is most hot and dry, and next 
 to a lyon's a leopard's ; next to a leopard's a bear's, 
 and next to a bear's a bull's. The later, physicians 
 use to cure convulsed and distracted parts, spots and 
 tumours in the body. It also helpeth the pain in the 
 loyns if the sick part be anoynted therewith, when a 
 plaister is made thereof with bole-armoric. It is 
 soveraign against the falling of the hair, compounded 
 with wilde roses. The Spaniards bum the brain of 
 bears when they die in any publick sports, holding 
 them venomous, because being drunk, they drive a 
 man to be as wilde as a bear ; and the like is reported 
 of the heart of a lyon, and the brain of a cat. The 
 right eye of a bear dryed to powder and hung about 
 children's necks in a little bag, driveth away the terror 
 of dreams, and both the eyes whole, bound to a 
 man's left arm easeth a quartain ague. The liver of 
 a sow, a lamb, and a bear, put together, and trod to 
 powder under one's shooes easeth and defendeth
 
 204 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 cripples from inflammation : the gall being preserved 
 and warmed in water, delivereth the body from cold, 
 when all other medicine faileth." 
 
 The chase of the bear is a very exciting pursuit, 
 and the more so, as it is attended with some danger. 
 Before relating any anecdotes of individual bears, let 
 us see what kind of an amusement bear-hunting is. 
 The description is taken from Audubon's American 
 Birds. (Marvel not to see a bear among birds. Au- 
 dubon was a naturalist as well as an ornithologist.) 
 
 " Being one night sleeping in the house of a 
 friend, I was awakened by a Negro servant bearing a 
 light, who gave me a note, which he said his master 
 had just received. I ran my eye over the paper, and 
 found it to be a communication from a neighbour, 
 requesting my friend and myself to join him as soon 
 as possible, and assist in killing some bears at that 
 moment engaged in destroying his corn. I was not 
 long in dressing, you may be assured, and, on enter- 
 ing the parlour, found my friend equipped, and only 
 waiting for some bullets, which a Negro was employed 
 in casting. The overseer's horn was heard calling up 
 the Negroes from their different cabins. Some were 
 already engaged in saddling our horses, whilst others 
 were gathering all the cur-dogs of the plantation. All 
 was bustle. Before half an hour had elapsed, four 
 stout Negro men, armed with axes and knives, and 
 mounted on strong nags of their own (for you must 
 know, kind reader, that many of our slaves rear 
 horses, cattle, pigs, and poultry, which are exclusively, 
 their own property), were following us at a round 
 gallop through the woods, as we made directly for the 
 neighbour's plantation, a little more than five miles 
 off. 
 
 " The night was none of the most favourable, a 
 drizzling rain rendering the atmosphere thick and 
 rather sultry; but as we were well acquainted with 
 the course, we soon reached the house, where the 
 owner was waiting our arrival. There were now
 
 BEAR. 205 
 
 three of us armed with guns, half a dozen servants, 
 and a good pack of dogs of all kinds. We jogged on 
 towards the detached fields, in which the bears were 
 at work. The owner told us, that for some days, 
 several of these animals had visited his corn, and 
 that a Negro who was sent every afternoon to see at 
 what part of the enclosure they entered, had assured 
 him there were at least five in the field that night. A 
 plan of attack was formed : the bars at the usual gap 
 of the fence were to be put down without noise ; the 
 men and dogs were to divide, and afterwards proceed 
 so as to surround the bears, when, at the sounding of 
 our horns, every one was to charge towards the centre 
 of the field, and shout as loudly as possible, which it 
 was judged would so intimidate the animals, as to 
 induce them to seek refuge upon the dead trees, with 
 which the field was still partially covered. 
 
 " The plan succeeded. The horns sounded, the 
 horses galloped forward, the men shouted, the dogs 
 barked and howled. The shrieks of the Negroes 
 were enough to frighten a legion of bears, and those 
 in the field took to flight, so that by the time we 
 reached the centre, they were heard hurrying towards 
 the tops of the trees. Fires were immediately lighted 
 by the Negroes. The drizzling rain had ceased, the sky 
 cleared, and the glare of the crackling fires proved of 
 great assistance to us. The bears had been so terri- 
 fied, that we now saw several of them crouched at 
 the junction of the larger boughs with the trunks. 
 Two were immediately shot down. They were cubs 
 of no great size, and being already half dead, we left 
 them to the dogs, which quickly dispatched them. 
 
 " We were anxious to procure as much sport as 
 possible, and having observed one of the bears, which 
 from its size we conjectured to be the mother, ordered 
 the Negroes to cut down the tree on which it was 
 perched, when it was intended the dogs should have 
 a tug with it, while we should support them, and 
 assist in preventing the bear from escaping by
 
 206 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 wounding it in one of the hind legs. The surround- 
 ing woods now echoed to the blows of the axemen. 
 The tree was large and tough, having been girdled 
 more than two years, and the operation of felling it 
 seemed extremely tedious. However, it began to 
 vibrate at each stroke ; a few inches alone now sup- 
 ported it; and in a short time it came crashing to 
 the ground, in so awful a manner that Bruin must 
 doubtless have felt the shock as severe as we should 
 feel a shake of the globe produced by the sudden 
 collision of a comet. 
 
 " The dogs rushed to the charge, and harassed the 
 bear on all sides. We had remounted, and now sur- 
 rounded the poor animal. As its life depended upon 
 its courage and strength, it exercised both in the 
 most energetic manner. Now and then it seized a 
 dog, and killed him by a single stroke. At another 
 time, a well-administered blow of one of its forelegs 
 sent an assailant off yelping so piteously, that he 
 might be looked upon as hors de combat. A cur had 
 daringly ventured to seize the bear by the snout, and 
 was seen hanging to it, covered with blood, whilst a 
 dozen .or more scrambled over its back. Now and 
 then, the infuriated animal was seen to cast a revenge- 
 ful glance at some of the party, and we had already 
 determined to dispatch it, when, to our astonishment, 
 it suddenly shook off all the dogs, and before we 
 could fire, charged upon one of the Negroes, who was 
 mounted on a pied horse. The bear seized the steed 
 with teeth and claws, and clung to its breast. The 
 terrified horse snorted and plunged. The rider, an 
 athletic young man, and a capital horseman, kept his 
 seat, although only saddled on a sheep's skin tightly 
 girthed, and requested his master not to fire at the 
 bear. Notwithstanding his coolness and courage, our 
 anxiety for his safety was raised to the highest pitch, 
 especially. when in a moment we saw rider and horse 
 come to the ground together ; but we were instantly 
 relieved on witnessing the masterly manner hi which
 
 BEAR. 207 
 
 Scipio dispatched his adversary, by laying open his 
 skull with a single well-directed blow of his axe, when 
 a deep growl announced the death of the bear, and 
 the valorous Negro sprung to his feet unhurt. 
 
 " Day dawned and we renewed our search. Two 
 of the remaining bears were soon discovered, lodged 
 in a tree about a hundred yards from the spot where 
 the last one had been overpowered. On approaching 
 them in a circle, we found that they manifested no 
 desire to come down, and we resolved to try smoking. 
 We surrounded the tree with a pile of brushwood 
 and large branches. At length the tree assumed the 
 appearance of a pillar of flame; The bears mounted 
 to the top branches. When they had reached the 
 uppermost, they were seen to totter, and soon after, 
 the branch cracking and snapping across, they came 
 to the ground, bringing with diem a mass of broken 
 twigs. They were cubs, and the dogs soon worried 
 them to death. The party returned to the house in 
 triumph. Scipio's horse, being severely wounded, 
 was let loose in the field to repair his strength by 
 eating the corn. A cart was afterwards sent for the 
 game. But before we had left the field, the horses, 
 dogs, and bears, together with the fires, had destroyed 
 more corn, within a few hours, than the poor bear 
 and her cubs had during the whole of their visits." 
 
 It appears that the native Americans do not con- 
 sider the slaughter of the bear to be merely as the 
 destruction of an injurious animal, but they look 
 upon the animal as an almost supernatural being, 
 and after killing it, solemnly propitiate its manes. 
 The following account, taken from Alexander Henry's 
 Travels, gives an excellent description of the ceremo- 
 nies used on such an occasion. 
 
 " In the course of the month of January I hap- 
 pened to observe that the trunk of a very large fine 
 tree was much torn by the claws of a bear, made 
 both in going up and down. On further examination 
 I saw that there was a large opening in the upper
 
 208 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 part, near which the smaller branches were broken. 
 From these mai'ks, and from the additional circum- 
 stance that there were no tracks in the snow, there 
 was reason to believe that a bear lay concealed in the 
 tree. On returning to the lodge I communicated my 
 discovery, and it was agreed that all the family should 
 go together in the morning to assist in cutting down 
 the tree, the girth of which was not less than three 
 fathoms. The women at first opposed the under- 
 taking, because our axes, being only of a pound and 
 a half weight were not well adapted to so heavy a 
 labour; but the" hope of finding a large bear, and 
 obtaining from its fat a great quantity of oil, an 
 article at the time much wanted, at length prevailed. 
 Accordingly, in the morning, we surrounded the tree, 
 both men and women, as many at a time as could 
 conveniently work at it, and there we toiled like 
 beavers till the sun went down. This day's work 
 carried us about half way through the trunk, and the 
 next morning we renewed the attack, continuing it 
 until about two o'clock in the afternoon, when the 
 tree fell to the ground. For a few moments every- 
 thing remained quiet, and I feared that all our 
 expectations would be disappointed ; but as I advanced 
 to the opening, there came out, to the great satisfac- 
 tion of all our party, a bear of extraordinary size, 
 which I shot. The bear being dead, all my assistants 
 approached, and all, but particularly my old mother 
 (as I was wont to call her), took the head in their 
 hands, stroking and kissing it several times ; begging 
 a thousand pardons for taking away her life, calling 
 her their relation and grandmother, and requesting 
 her not to lay the fault upon them, as it was truly an 
 Englishman that had put her to death. This cere- 
 mony was not of long duration, and if it was I that 
 killed their grandmother, they were not themselves 
 behindhand in what remained to be performed. The 
 skin being taken off, we found the fat in several 
 places six inches deep. This being divided into two
 
 THE BTCAR. 
 
 p. 208.
 
 ..BEAR 209 
 
 parts loaded two persons, and the flesh parts were as 
 much as four persons could carry. In all, the carcase 
 must have exceeded five hundredweight. As soon as 
 we reached the lodge, the bear's head was adorned 
 with all the trinkets in the possession of the family, 
 such as silver armbands and wristbands, and belts of 
 wampum, and then laid upon a scaffold set up for its 
 reception within the lodge. Near the nose was placed 
 a large quantity of tobacco. The next morning no 
 sooner appeared than preparations were made for a 
 feast to the manes. The lodge was cleaned and 
 swept, and the head of the bear lifted up, and a new 
 Stroud blanket, which had never been used before, 
 spread under it. The pipes were now lit, and 
 Wawatam blew tobacco smoke into the nostrils of 
 the bear, telling me to do the same, and thus appease 
 the anger of the bear, on account of having killed her. 
 I endeavoured to persuade my benefactor and friendly 
 adviser that she no longer had any life, and assured 
 -him that I was under no apprehension from her dis- 
 pleasure ; but the first proposition obtained no credit, 
 and the second gave but little satisfaction. At length 
 the feast being ready, Wawatam made a speech, 
 resembling, in. many things, his address to the manes 
 of his relations and departed companions ; but having 
 the peculiarity, that he here deplored the necessity 
 under which men laboured thus to destroy their 
 friends. He represented, however, that the misfortune 
 was unavoidable, since without doing so they could 
 by no means subsist. This speech ended, we all eat 
 heartily of the bear's flesh, and even the head itself, 
 after remaining three days on the scaffold, was put 
 into the kettle." 
 
 Why do we always call a rude man a bear ? Why 
 do we select the bear as our model of coai'se conduct? 
 There is nothing in the ursine nature to warrant such 
 an attack upon its general character. The bear is quite 
 as gentlemanly a quadruped as any other, and if he 
 does occasionally infringe the rules of politeness, it 
 
 p
 
 210 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 is from the want of instruction, and 'not from any 
 innate vulgarity. We should not form our notions of 
 politeness from an uninstructed heing. Who, for 
 example, would form any idea of our refined friend, 
 Mr. Pelham, from an acquaintance with a Wilt- 
 shire pig-driver, or a " Bilstone Chap ?" The edu- 
 cated individual is always taken as the criterion by 
 which we should judge the politeness of a nation : 
 why then should we choose the uneducated individual 
 in judging the politeness of a tribe '? Let our bear 
 only be properly educated, and see what a refined 
 individual he becomes. It is very true that few bears 
 are fortunate enough to obtain an education, that 
 raises them from their native state of primitive sim- 
 plicity to the summit of refinement. For the educa- 
 tion of most bears seldom aspires beyond teaching 
 the animal to stand on its hind legs, and raise each 
 foot alternately, a performance popularly entitled 
 " dancing," and said to be inculcated by placing hot 
 plates under the bear's feet; while a very accomplished 
 bear wears his master's hat and leans on his stick 
 while the pence are being collected. 
 
 Sometimes the education of a bear is taken up by 
 more accomplished hands, and then he turns out a 
 capital pupil, especially in his choice of food. 
 
 Such an animal was the renowned Tiglath Pileser, 
 the gentlemanly Oxford bear He was one of the 
 Syrian bears, the animals mentioned in the Book of 
 Kings, as the destroyers of the children that mocked 
 Elisha. The colour of these bears is a yellowish- 
 white, except when they are young, at which time the 
 fur is brown. It is somewhat remarkable, that the 
 young of a white animal should be dark, while the 
 young of many dark animals, such as the Agile 
 Gibbon monkey, or the Hippopotamus, should be 
 light. An opposite change of colour takes place in 
 the young of the lion and puma, whose fur is spotted 
 or brindled until they attain to maturer years. 
 
 But to return to Tiglath Pileser, called, for the
 
 BEAR 211 
 
 sake of brevity, Tig. He was a contemporary of my 
 dog Rory, and was much such an individual among 
 bears as Rory among dogs, and indeed in many points 
 their taste was identical. The history of Tig has 
 several times been presented to the public, and I shall, 
 therefore, give but a short notice of him. 
 
 His entrance into the University was marked by 
 that eccentricity of demeanour which never deserted 
 him through his life. Immediately on escaping from 
 the confinement of the hamper in which he had made 
 a long railway journey, he ran away, and passing 
 down the cloisters with which the rooms of his master 
 communicated, he got into the cathedral just as the 
 first lesson was being read. So unaccountable an 
 intruder caused great discomposure in the mind of 
 the verger, who took refuge in a pew, and fastened the 
 door. The bear derived his name from this exploit, as 
 the name of Tiglath Pileser happened to be mentioned 
 just when he entered the cathedral. Tig soon escaped 
 from the cathedral, and after a severe chase in " Tom- 
 quad," was captured by means of a gown thrown over 
 him, and was led back to his proper home, walking on 
 his hind legs and sucking one of his master's fingers, 
 an amusement of which he was very fond. 
 
 His collegiate life now began, and he conformed him- 
 self admirably to the customs of the University, mean- 
 ing, of course, the undergraduate portion of the Univer- 
 sity. He was decked in cap and gown, and conveyed 
 to wine parties, where he made himself very much at 
 home, and ate ices with great discrimination. By 
 the way, it seems to be an invariable custom with 
 collegians to dress their favourites in full academicals. 
 When the famous dwarf, General Tom Thumb, was 
 in Oxford, he had a little cap and gown made for him, 
 the model of the cap being the tailor's fist, and the 
 gown proportionately small. In these habiliments 
 he went round the colleges to pay his respect to the 
 University as represented by its members. 
 
 Tig ought to have lived in a little yard on which 
 
 P 2
 
 212 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 his master's rooms opened, but lie made such a noise 
 when left alone at night, that he was brought into the 
 rooms in self-defence. Moreover, in the same yard 
 were an eagle, a tortoise, and a monkey, neither par- 
 ticularly good company for poor Tig, for the monkey 
 used to pull his ears or hair, while the eagle, being 
 unconversational in his habits, stood on the tortoise 
 almost all day, and beguiled the hours by trying to 
 eat it a proceeding which the tortoise endured with 
 the greatest equanimity. 
 
 So Tig's life became that of an undergraduate, and 
 when vacations came he left the college with his 
 master, and lived in a village, where he played sundiy 
 pranks. On one occasion he was taken for a ride to a 
 distant village, his hind legs resting on the horse's 
 back, and his fore paws on his master's shoulders. 
 The horse evinced great disapprobation of the claws 
 that Tig wore on his hind feet, and plunged about in 
 order to shake off the incumbrance. But Tig held 
 on quite firmly, and reached his journey's end in safety. 
 
 As he grew older his fur became whiter, and he bid 
 fair to become a beautiful specimen of the Syrian 
 bear. The authorities, however, at the college, not 
 being quite so attached to the bear as the junior 
 members, and having for some time exercised consider- 
 able forbearance on the subject, at last issued the fatal 
 mandate, and poor Tig's last day at college arrived. 
 In order that he might be properly attended to, he 
 was sent to the Zoological Gardens and put in a den. 
 But the mandate of expulsion was indeed a fatal one, 
 for the poor animal could not be reconciled to the 
 change, and after some time spent in incessantly 
 running up and down his den in vain efforts to 
 escape, he was found dead one morning. 
 
 Of all the bear tribe, the Grizzly Bear (Ursus horri- 
 lilis or ferox) is the most dangerous. Its ferocity is 
 exceedingly great, and such is its tenacity of life, that 
 it seems to care little for half a dozen bullets or so 
 through its lungs, and has been known to run more
 
 BEAR. 2 1 3 
 
 than a hundred yards after a ball had passed through 
 its heart. Indeed, a ball through the brain or spine 
 seems to be the only method of bringing this ferocious 
 animal to the ground at once. The grizzly bear has 
 rather a peculiar method of approach. When he 
 sees his foe or his prey, as the case may be, he rises 
 on his hind legs, surveys the opponent for a few 
 moments, and then rushes at him with such fury, 
 that heedless of any mortal wound, he presses for- 
 ward, and would seize him even if protected by a 
 body of soldiers. 
 
 So formidable is this creature considered by the 
 American Indians, that a collar composed of its claws 
 is one of the highest honours that a man can earn, 
 for none are permitted to wear these trophies, unless 
 they have killed the bear with their own hand. Even 
 the much-coveted " scalp " is not prized so highly as 
 the claws of the grizzly bear. Nor is this to be won- 
 dered at, when, in addition to the ferocity of the 
 animal and its enormous size, we consider that the 
 claws are five inches in length, and so sharp, that 
 they cut like so many chisels. No* wonder, then, that 
 a necklace of these fearful claws should be held in 
 such high estimation. The claws can be moved in- 
 dependently of each other, like our fingers. An 
 inquisitive bear has been seen to crumble a clod of 
 earth to pieces by the mere motion of the claws, 
 without using the paws at all. 
 
 The Indians stand in such awe of this animal, that 
 when they discover one. they summon as many men as 
 possible, the whole tribe if they can, and endeavour 
 to make up by numbers for their want of courage. 
 So terrified are they at their ursine enemy, that 
 although they swarm as numerously as the fabulous 
 bees whose hive was overturned by the fabulous bear, 
 they often fail in stinging the bear to death. 
 
 But the white American hunter knows better. 
 When he sees a grizzly bear that he thinks is 
 worth the trouble and danger of shooting, he hides
 
 a 14 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 himself behind a stump or rock, and imitates the 
 lowing of a young calf. The bear hearing this 
 welcome sound, runs to the place from whence the 
 cry proceeded, hoping to make a good supper on 
 veal, without much trouble in obtaining it. The 
 hunter then waits until the shaggy monster is quite 
 close, when he sends a ball through his head. It is 
 necessary to inflict an instantaneously fatal wound, 
 for if that is not done, the enraged beast, although 
 mortally wounded, has several times been known to 
 muster sufficient 'strength to overtake and kill his 
 assailant. 
 
 It is said, that in spite of its enormous size, 
 strength, and ferocity, the grizzly bear stands in 
 great fear of the smell of man, and that if the 
 hunter once gets to the windward of the bear, or 
 " gives him his wind," as it is called, the animal runs 
 off as fast as he can. One old hunter, it is said, saved 
 his life by his knowledge of this peculiarity. He was 
 unarmed, and in that helpless condition, saw a grizzly 
 bear at some distance. The moment the bear caught 
 a glimpse of him, it turned and gave chase. The 
 man, on rinding the bear gain on him, tore off a 
 small portion of wool from his blanket, and threw it 
 into the air to find the direction of the wind. Having 
 discovered from which quarter the wind blew, he ran 
 round until he placed himself between the wind and 
 the bear. The animal, who was advancing in a 
 ferocious manner, no sooner caught the scent, than it 
 turned round, and ran away as fast as it could. I 
 was, however, informed by an American traveller, who 
 has resided for several years in the parts infested by 
 the grizzly bear, and who, therefore, may be supposed 
 to be a good authority, that the bear is by no means 
 afraid of the scent of man, but will most certainly 
 rush at and attack him. Perhaps the bears living on 
 the outskirts of this country, where they have oppor- 
 tunities of forming an acquaintance with fire-arms, 
 may, as other beasts certainly have done, learn to
 
 BEAR. 215 
 
 connect the scent of man with the power of his 
 weapons. 
 
 This bear, according to my informant, is not to be 
 stopped in his attack by boldly facing it, as is the case 
 with the lion tribe, and some other animals. In fact, 
 " a panther," as my informant said, " if you only 
 know how to work him, has no more harm in him 
 than a squirrel." The " working " consists in keeping 
 a sharp look-out for the animal, never seeming to be 
 afraid of it, and turning round upon it whenever it 
 gets too close. 
 
 His reasons for the conduct of the animal under 
 these circumstances, appear to be correct. These 
 beasts of prey, when in pursuit, have but one idea iii 
 their minds, that of catching their prey. As they 
 creep closer and closer, the idea becomes so over- 
 whelming, that it banishes every other thought from 
 their minds. This may be often seen in a cat when 
 creeping after a bird. As then, the prey retreats, and 
 the animal gains on it, this one idea completely fills 
 its mind, to the exclusion of every other thought, 
 every faculty being wrought up for that one purpose. 
 If, then, at that time the pursued animal suddenly 
 turns upon the pursuer, the unexpected change of action 
 causes the animal to stop instinctively, or even to 
 retreat a few steps. In either case, the leading idea 
 is suddenly driven from the mind of the animal, and 
 it is completely bewildered. A panther (i.e., a puma), 
 when stopped in this way, often retreats a few steps, 
 and is so perplexed by the action, that it cannot re- 
 cover itself for some time. A snake also, when it has 
 coiled itself for a spring, will often sink back again, if 
 a stick be struck violently against the earth. 
 
 But the grizzly bear is superior to these weaknesses, 
 and is therefore an animal to be avoided. His speed 
 is tolerable, but not equal to that of a horse, so that a 
 mounted man may consider himself in safety. But 
 when a traveller is on foot, he manages in a different 
 way. He takes with him as much meat as he can
 
 216 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 cany, and if pursued by one of these bears, he throws 
 a little piece on the ground, having first scented it 
 with some material that puzzles the bear exceedingly. 
 So when the bear comes up, he sees the meat, and 
 begins sniffing at it. He is sure to eat it at last, but 
 not until after a long examination, so that the traveller 
 has five or six minutes start of him, a space of time 
 that will suffice to put nearly a mile between himself 
 and the bear. 
 
 Mr. Eaton Stone, the traveller, who gave me this 
 account of the habit of the animal, was himself chased 
 nearly thirty miles by one of these bears in fact, the 
 creature pursued him to the banks of a large river. He 
 looked upon the grizzly bear as an animal whose near 
 acquaintance was always to be declined, if possible. 
 
 An adventure with one of these ferocious animals, 
 fortunately partaking more of the comic than the 
 tragic, is related by Townshend. A rash hunter, 
 whose shooting powers did not seem to be equal to 
 those of American hunters, whose unerring eye and 
 hand can use a rifle ball in the light of a hammer, 
 and drive home a nail while at the distance of fifty 
 paces, saw a grizzly bear reposing itself under some 
 willows. He dropped quietly behind his companions, 
 approached to within twenty yards of the bear, and 
 then fired. Now, a grizzly bear is at all times singu- 
 larly indifferent to wounds, and will often give fierce 
 chase even when its body has been riddled by balls. 
 As, therefore, the hunter only succeeded in wounding 
 the animal slightly, it may be imagined that its 
 resentment was likely to be formidable. The moment 
 that the shot struck it, the bear rushed with an 
 angry growl upon its opponent, who instantly turned 
 his horse, and fled. The horse happened to be a 
 slow one, and the bear was several times so close to 
 the terrified animal as to snap at its heels. During 
 the race, the rider kept constantly turning toward the 
 bear, and shrieking, " shoot him shoot him," in an 
 agony of fear. The bear, as may be supposed, had
 
 BEAB. 217 
 
 not the slightest intention of shooting himself, and 
 continued the chase, until he drove the man fairly 
 into the centre of his own party. A detachment rode 
 to his assistance, and when they got within range of 
 the bear, did " shoot him." This reminds us of a 
 certain general, who, being chased by a bear, shouted 
 out, " Halt, you rascal, I 'm a general, I 'm a general." 
 
 The grizzly bear is generally hunted by several 
 men, who contrive to surround him. One then fires, 
 and is instantly chased by the exasperated bear, 
 but escapes by the blind fury of the animal who, 
 when he feels a fresh wound, turns upon his new 
 assailant, giving the first time to reload. He is thus 
 driven from one to the other in a kind of puss-in-the- 
 comer manner, until he is destroyed. This consum- 
 mation is not completed without a great expenditure 
 of ammunition, the body being sometimes so pierced 
 with balls, that it is impossible to find four inches 
 square of fur left entire. Every time that this animal 
 receives a ball, he turns round, and begins tearing 
 the wound with his teeth. 
 
 " Ephraim," as he is called in mountain phraseo- 
 logy, is at all times an unpleasant animal, and even 
 when quite young, and no larger than a puppy, is 
 so cross, and bites so fiercely, that no one has suc- 
 ceeded in taming it. The hunters have often 
 attempted to rear a young grizzly bear, but have not 
 succeeded, and accordingly every young grizzly bear 
 is mercilessly put to death. 
 
 The following narrative is given for several reasons, 
 partly because it exemplifies the ferocity of the grizzly 
 bear, and partly because it shows the courage and 
 endurance of the hunter. Indeed, the sequel of the 
 story is almost incredible, and were it not known 
 from what severe wounds the body of man will recover, 
 when it is not weakened or injured by sloth or luxury, 
 no one would believe that any man who had suffered 
 such injuries could possibly survive. At all events, it 
 shows the perfect health that is given by a life in the
 
 218 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 wide prairies, where there are no smoky cities to 
 corrupt the air, or close rooms to prevent its circula- 
 tion ; where the body is not inflamed by artificial 
 methods of cookery and where there are no taxes. 
 There men breathe untaxed air, are visited by un- 
 taxed light, ride on untaxed horses, kill untaxed deer 
 with untaxed powder and ball, dress their venison 
 with untaxed fire, cut it with untaxed knives, and, 
 when they have supped, sleep on an untaxed bed, 
 without fear of paying " rates " when they get up. 
 
 The tale is told by Mr. Ruxton. 
 
 " A trapper named Glass, and a companion, were 
 setting their beaver-traps in a stream to the north of 
 the river Platte, when they saw a large grizzly bear 
 turning up the turf near by, and searching for roots 
 and pig-nuts. The two men crept to the thicket, and 
 fired at him ; they wounded, but did not kill him ; 
 the beast groaned, jumped on all four legs from the 
 ground, and, snorting with pain and fury, charged 
 towards the place from whence came the smoke of 
 the rifles. The men rushed through the thicket, 
 where the underwood almost impeded their progress ; 
 but the beast's weight and strength carried him along 
 so fast, that he soon came up with them. A steep 
 bluff was situated a hundi'ed yards off, with a level 
 plain of grass between it and the thicket ; the hunters 
 flew across the latter with the utmost speed, the bear 
 after them. When he reached about half way, Glass 
 stumbled over a stone and fell. He rose, and the 
 bear stood before him on his hind legs. Glass called 
 to his companion to fire, and he himself sent the 
 contents of his pistol into the bear's body The 
 furious animal, with the blood streaming from his 
 nose and mouth, knocked the pistol away with one 
 paw, while he stuck the claws of the other into the 
 flesh of his antagonist, and rolled with him on the 
 ground. Glass managed to reach his knife, and 
 plunged it several times into the bear, while the latter, 
 with tooth and claw, tore his flesh. At last, blinded
 
 BEAR. 219 
 
 with blood and exhaustion, the knife fell from the 
 trapper's hand, and he became insensible. His 
 companion, who thought his turn would come next, 
 did not even think of reloading his rifle, and fled to 
 the camp, where others of his party were resting, to 
 tell the miserable fate of their companion. Assistance 
 was sent, and Glass still breathed, but the bear lay 
 across him quite dead, from three bullets and twenty 
 knife wounds. The man's flesh was torn away in 
 slips, and lumps of it lay upon the ground, his scalp 
 hung bleeding over his face, which was also torn. 
 The men took away the trapper's hunting-shirt, mo- 
 cassins, and arms, dragged the bear off his body, and 
 left him, declaring, when they rejoined their party, 
 that they had completed his burial." 
 
 However, they had not buried him, most probably 
 supposing that the wolves would save them that 
 trouble. Some months afterwards, as some of the 
 same party were taking furs to a trading fort for sale, 
 they were met by a horseman of a singular appear- 
 ance, whose face was so scarred and disfigured, that 
 his features could not be distinguished. The strange 
 horseman accosted one of the party in the following 
 words : " Hurrah ! Bill, my boy, you thought I was 
 gone under (killed) that time, did you ? but hand me 
 over my horse and furs, lad, I 'm not dead yet." The 
 individual accosted, who was the man that accompa- 
 nied Glass in his ill-fated expedition against the bear, 
 was horrified at hearing the voice of one whom he 
 imagined to have died long ago. There he was, how- 
 ever, and proved himself to be alive so completely, 
 that the party at last recovered sufficiently from their 
 astonishment to hear his story. It appeared that he 
 must have lain for some time in a senseless state after 
 they left him. When he recovered himself a little, 
 he tore off the flesh of the dead bear for subsistence, 
 and having loaded himself with as much of this 
 food as he could manage to carry, he crawled down 
 to the river, and set himself to reach the fort, which
 
 220 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 being between eighty and ninety miles distant, was 
 no small journey for a healthy man, without clothes 
 or arms. Yet this brave fellow, weak, naked, and 
 desperately wounded as he was, contrived to reach 
 his destination at last, having been forced to live on 
 fruits and berries for the greater part of the journey. 
 When he arrived thei*e, he had been properly taken 
 care of, and although disfigured for life by the innu- 
 merable wounds that he had received, had perfectly 
 recovered. 
 
 His companion must have felt considerably ashamed 
 of himself when addressed by one whom he had 
 forsaken in his need. 
 
 The wounded hunter has not recorded his sensa- 
 tions during the time that the bear was inflicting 
 these wounds upon him, but if any of my readers are 
 disposed to derive any particular gratification from 
 ascertaining the precise sensation felt by a man while 
 being torn by a bear, they are recommended to read 
 the following passage, extracted from Mr. Lloyd's inter- 
 esting work on Scandinavia. He is here relating 
 the history of a bear-hunt, in which he came off less 
 fortunately than usual: 
 
 " Being perfectly prepared, and my gun on the full 
 cock, I, as soon as I caught sight of the beast, levelled 
 at the centre of his skull ; but some boughs interfer- 
 ing, which it was to be feared would intercept the 
 ball, caused me to desist from firing ; the next instant, 
 however, I took rather a snap shot at the outer side 
 of his head, beyond the boughs in question. But 
 the momentary delay caused by shifting my aim was 
 very unfortunate, for, in the interim, he had seen me, 
 and as I pulled the trigger, he was in the very act of 
 bolting from his couch, and my aim, in consequence, 
 was very uncertain. Indeed, I am inclined to believe 
 I missed him altogether. 
 
 " Be that as it may, on the discharge of my gun 
 the beast at once rushed towards me. I had still left 
 my second barrel, with which I ought, no doubt, to
 
 BEAR. 221 
 
 have destroyed him; but, owing to his undulating 
 motion, I could not, though I attempted it more than 
 once, catch a satisfactory sight, and it was not till he 
 was within three or four paces that I fired, and then 
 somewhat at random ; though my ball, in this or the 
 former instance (for in the one or the other, as subse- 
 quently ascertained, it went wide of the mark), 
 wounded him very desperately, it having entered his 
 neck near the shoulder and passed into his body; yet 
 it was not sufficient, unfortunately, to stop his course, 
 for in a second or two he was upon me, not on his 
 hind legs (the way in which it is commonly supposed 
 the bear makes his attack), but on all fours like a 
 dog ; and, in spite of a slight blow I gave him on the 
 head with the muzzle of my gun for I had no time 
 to apply the butt he at once laid me prostrate. 
 
 " Had not the beast been so very near me when I 
 fired the second barrel, it is probable, from his 
 wounded state, I might have got out of his way ; but 
 flight on my part, from his near proximity, was then 
 too late, and once in his clutches, and now that my 
 gun was discharged, totally unarmed, the only 
 resource left me was to turn on my face to the snow, 
 that my features might not be mutilated, and to lie 
 motionless, it being a generally-received opinion in 
 Scandinavia, that if the bear supposes his victim to 
 be dead, he the sooner desists from his assaults. In 
 my case, however, though I played the defunct as 
 well as I was able, the beast mangled me somewhat 
 severely about the head in particular ; my body also 
 suffered greatly from his ferocious attacks, which 
 extended from the neck and shoulder downwards to 
 the hip. But he did not attempt, in any manner, to 
 hug or embrace me, as we in England seem to imagine 
 his custom to be when carrying on offensive opera- 
 tions : nor did he, seemingly, molest me in any way 
 with his claws. All my wounds were, to the best of 
 my belief, inflicted with his fangs. 
 
 " This goes somewhat to corroborate the idea that
 
 222 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 commonly prevails in Sweden, that in attacking a 
 man, and beyond holding him fast, the bear never, in 
 the manner of the lion or the tiger, strikes with his 
 paw, which they say is his usual habit when making 
 an onset on horses and cattle. If this be true, it is as 
 well; as otherwise, from the great muscular power of 
 his arm, annihilation would very probably generally 
 follow the blow. But, after all, no inference can fairly 
 be drawn from my case, as the least forbearance 
 towards me might have arisen simply from my 
 remaining quite' passive. Had I, on the contrary, 
 been on my legs, and offered resistance, I might have 
 possibly felt not only the weight of his paws, but the 
 pressure of his embraces. 
 
 " Neither at the time of receiving my first fire, nor 
 whilst making the rush, did the bear, as is usually 
 the case when enraged, utter his usual half roar, half 
 growl. Even when I was lying at his mercy, no 
 other than a sort of subdued growl, similar to that of 
 a dog when disturbed while gnawing a bone, was 
 made by the beast, and so far from coming at me 
 with open jaws, as one would suppose- to be the case 
 with a wild beast when making his onset, his mouth 
 at the time was altogether closed. 
 
 " The pain I suffered from his long-continued 
 attacks upon my body was unbearable. When he had 
 my limbs in his jaws, it more resembled their being 
 stuck in a huge vice than anything else ; but when 
 his jaws grasped, as they did, the whole crown of my 
 head, during which I distinctly felt the fleshy part of 
 his mouth to overlap my forehead, and his fangs very 
 deliberately scarify my head, my sufferings were in- 
 tense. The sensation of his fangs slowly grating 
 over the bare skull, was not at all that of a sharp 
 blow, as is often the case when a wound is inflicted, 
 but rather, though very much more protracted, the 
 craunch one feels during the extracting of a tooth. 
 
 " From certain circumstances, I have reason to 
 believe the bear continued to maltreat me for nearly
 
 BEAK. 223 
 
 three, minutes. As I perfectly retained my senses the 
 whole time, my feelings, whilst in this horrible situa- 
 tion, are beyond the power of description. But, at 
 length, the incessant attacks of my gallant little dog 
 drew the beast's attention from me, and I had the 
 satisfaction to see him retreat, though at a very slow 
 pace, into the adjoining thicket, where he was at once 
 lost to view. 
 
 " Immediately after he left me I arose and applied 
 snow by the handful to my head to stanch the blood, 
 which was flowing from it in streams. I lost a very 
 large quantity, and the bear not a little, so that the 
 snow all around the scene of the conflict was literally 
 deluged in gore. 
 
 ****** 
 
 " As it was, I escaped wonderfully : my body, to be 
 sure, was covered with severe contusions, for the skin 
 being only slightly torn, wounds they could hardly be 
 called; two or three days subsequently, indeed, the 
 whole of my left hip, and the adjacent parts, were 
 perfectly black. My right hand and wrist were a 
 good deal hurt, for at the commencement of the affair, 
 how I know not, I got my hand into the mouth, and 
 even partially down the very throat of the beast, 
 where it seemed as if imbedded in saliva. My skull, 
 for a considerable extent, was laid bare in two places, 
 one wound, by the doctor's account on the following 
 day, being eight, the other nine, inches in length, 
 though parts of both were, of course, superficial." 
 
 Such being the case with a Scandinavian bear, it 
 may well be imagined that a similar scene enacted by 
 a grizzly bear would be hardly less painful to the 
 sufferer. 
 
 The Scandinavian bears appear tp be greater 
 plagues than their American congeners. In one year, 
 1828, a report was made by a committee on the 
 number of animals destroyed by the wild beasts 
 the preceding year, and the returns gave the following 
 rather alarming statistics : 465 horses, 3J 08 cows, &c.
 
 224 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 19,104 sheep and goats, and 2504 pigs. This asto- 
 nishing number of animals had been destroyed in 
 seventeen provinces in one year by the wild beasts, 
 among which the bear is predominant. In order to 
 destroy the bears, the Scandinavian hunters get up 
 great bear-hunts, or skalls as they are called, and 
 generally return with several slaughtered bears in 
 their train. The bear is generally surrounded by the 
 hunters, and, by their united efforts, killed. Very 
 full and interesting accounts are given of the manner 
 and customs of the bear by Mr. Lloyd, and of all the 
 methods used in killing them, and other wild beasts. 
 As the snow lies exceedingly deep, the hunters 
 have invented a kind of wooden skates, called 
 " skidor," for the purpose of enabling them to pass 
 over the surface of the snow without sinking, much 
 on the principle of the snow-shoes used in North 
 America. There is, however, a great difference in 
 their construction, for whereas the snow shoes are 
 wide in the middle, and made of strings stretched 
 over a bow, like a racket, the skidor are narrow 
 strips of fir, of unequal lengths, that for the left foot 
 being about ten or eleven feet long, and that worn on 
 the right about seven or eight. This difference in 
 length is to enable the wearer to turn with more ease. 
 The width of this wooden skate is between two and 
 three inches. In order to prevent the wearer from 
 slipping back while ascending hills, the bottom of the 
 right skate is often covered with fur, the hairs 
 pointing backwards. The wearer's weight being thus 
 distributed over a large space, he is borne over the 
 surface of the snow, while quadrupeds, who have no 
 such artificial supports, sink into it. In this way 
 men are enabled to pursue and overtake the elks, 
 bears, and wolves. Sometimes a substitute for the 
 skidor is used, something resembling an American 
 snow-shoe, but made of wickerwork. This is very 
 clumsy, and does not enable the wearer to go with 
 such speed as he can attain when mounted on skidor.
 
 BEAR. ^ 255 
 
 Sometimes they put their horses upon snow-shoes, in 
 which condition the animals, although they rather 
 straggle in their gait, yet walk with more ease than if 
 they were sinking deep into the snow at every step. 
 The worst kind of snow for the skidor is -that which 
 has just begun to thaw, and which, in consequence, 
 adheres to the skates, instead of suffering them to 
 pass over its surface. The skidor are used in two 
 ways, either in a manner somewhat resembling our 
 method of skating, or by the wearer propelling him- 
 self by a stick. Each skida weighs about five or six 
 pounds. The principal disadvantage attending them is, 
 that if they are suddenly driven against an object, they- 
 are apt to snap in two, and they are, of course, almost 
 useless in thick woods. In some provinces the skidor are 
 made much shorter and considerably wider, but they are 
 not thought so highly of as the long narrow instruments. 
 
 The hybernating properties of the bear are well 
 known. The method employed by the animal in 
 thus obtaining a sound winter's sleep, is given by 
 Topsell in the following passage : 
 
 " There was a certain cowherd in the mountains of 
 Helvetia, which coming down a hill with a great 
 cauldron on his back, he saw a bear eating of a root 
 which he had pulled up with his feet ; the cowherd 
 stood still till the bear was gone, and afterward came 
 to the place where the beast had eaten the same, and 
 finding more of the same root, did likewise eat it : he 
 had no sooner tasted thereof, but he had such a desire 
 to sleep, that he could not contain himself, but he 
 must needs lie down in the way and there fell asleep, 
 having covered his head with the cauldron, to keep 
 himself from the vehemency of the cold, and there 
 slept all the winter time without harm, and never rose 
 again till the spring time, which fable, if a man will 
 believe, then doubtless this hearb may cause the bears 
 to be sleepers, not for fourteen days, but for fourscore 
 days together." 
 
 In the countries where the bears live, there are
 
 26 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 always sundry strange stories prevalent respecting 
 them, their habits, and their cunning. The Norwe- 
 gians, indeed, declare that the bear has the strength 
 of ten men and the sense of twelve. They, there- 
 fore, never or seldom speak of it by its name, but by 
 a paraphrase, terming it " the old man with a fur 
 cloak." This reminds one of the ingenious Jacobite 
 toast, " the gentleman in the velvet coat, to whom we 
 are so much indebted," meaning the mole, who had 
 raised the hill over which William the Third's horse 
 fell. One most singular opinion respecting the 
 Scandinavian bear is given by Mr. Lloyd, whose 
 account is so excellent, that I must be pardoned for 
 introducing the entire description, together with his 
 opinion on the subject: 
 
 " Another singular notion also prevalent in parts of 
 Scandinavia is, that when the bear has received his 
 death-wound, he, rather than fall into the hands of 
 his pursuers, will commit self-destruction. If this 
 strange idea were confined to the lower orders, it 
 might hardly deserve even a passing notice, but 
 there are those of the better classes who entertain the 
 crotchet." The author here quotes the words of an- 
 other writer : 
 
 " ' That the bear, when mortally wounded, makes 
 for the rand or lake, and there disappears,' says that 
 gentleman, ' has long been a general belief among the 
 common people of Norway. But, so far as I am 
 aware, no certain evidence of the fact could, for a 
 long time, be obtained, neither could people explain 
 how the beast could prevent its dead carcase from 
 rising, at least for a short time, to the surface, 
 which never happened, and the mystery, therefore, 
 could not properly be cleared up. Recently, however, 
 we have not only had convincing proof that the 
 popular belief is founded in truth, but the manner in 
 which die body has been kept under water has been 
 very satisfactorily explained. The discovery took 
 place in this wise.
 
 BEAR. 227 
 
 " t ' Whilst the Vada, or drag-net, was being used in 
 a forest lake, situated between Eidsvold and the 
 neighbouring parish of Uurdal, in the near vicinity 
 of which, from olden times to the present, there have 
 been several places where it has been the custom to 
 shoot bears from the Gall (of which presently) ; a 
 sunken log was drawn up from the bottom, with the 
 skulls of three, if not four, bears, firmly attached to it, 
 the fangs being deeply imbedded in the wood itself. 
 It is not for a moment to be thought of, that these 
 skulls could have been fastened to the tree by the 
 hands of man, and it is not, therefore, beyond the 
 comprehension of human reason to suppose that the 
 beasts, in their death struggles, had thus attached 
 themselves to the solid body, to prevent falling into 
 the hands of their pursuers ; that none of the other 
 bones were found adhering to the skulls, can be easily 
 explained by the influence that water and other 
 causes might, in the course of veiy many years, have 
 had on the ligaments.' 
 
 " In connection with this subject, and in corrobo- 
 ration of what has been stated, I may further add, 
 that a man now living, and a good bear-hunter, had 
 the misfortune, some years ago, to lose a severely- 
 wounded bear in the above manner in the lake in 
 question. After the beast was fired at, and, as was 
 evident from several circumstances, had received his 
 death-wound, his bloody track was observed to lie 
 across the black morass in the immediate vicinity of 
 the vand, and as there was no return track, the only 
 conclusion that could possibly be come to was, that 
 he had thrown himself into the water. 
 
 " The circumstance of three to four bears having 
 attached themselves to this particular log, would seem 
 to have arisen from more than mere accident. It is 
 not improbable, if one is permitted to make a sur- 
 mise, that the several beasts, having crept for some- 
 time unsuccessfully underneath the water, in order to 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 get hold of a solid body, had all, by a strange coinci- 
 dence, found their way to the same tree. 
 
 " That bears in the agonies of death should 
 evade their assailants in the manner mentioned, is 
 not more remarkable than other peculiarities observ- 
 able with these animals ; and to look at the matter 
 in this point of view, it contains no impossibility. 
 We have, besides, quite certain evidence that other 
 animals are endowed with the same instinct. 
 
 " Of the fox we know, that after being dangerously 
 wounded, or about to die from other causes, he always 
 attempts to crawl to his den, or to the water, there to 
 terminate his existence. It is also confidently asserted 
 that the otter, when wounded in the water, imme- 
 diately dives to the bottom, and never comes up again, 
 whereas, on the contrary, when killed outright, he, 
 at least for a short time, floats on the surface ; and 
 the like is the case with some of the duck tribe. 
 Speaking generally, it is, therefore, only reasonable 
 to infer that it lies in the nature of all animals, 
 when about to expire, whether from violence or in 
 the common course of nature, to seek as far as 
 may be, the most retired place, thereby to prevent 
 their bodies from being afterwards discovered: were 
 the case otherwise, they would be met with more 
 frequently than they are, which, in fact, happens very 
 rarely. How often, for instance, has the house spar- 
 row, that has died from natural causes, been found ? 
 Seldom or never ! * 
 
 " That a bear, when wounded, will frequently 
 take to the water, and that no track leading there- 
 from can, at times, be found, is perfectly true ; 
 but do people properly examine the opposite shore ? 
 
 * There are many reasons why the bodies of sparrows should 
 never be found, the principal being that a dead sparrow could 
 hardly escape the observation of sundry birds of prey, or even if 
 it did escape their eyes, it would be inevitably interred within 
 twenty-four hours by the burying beetles.
 
 BEAR. 229 
 
 This is very much to be doubted. On one occa- 
 sion I was, myself, puzzled to know what had be- 
 come of a bear under these circumstances. The 
 case was this. A skall on a considerable scale took 
 place under my guidance, at some distance from 
 lionnum. The Hall was posted across a narrow strip 
 of land, between two extensive lakes, and as the 
 breadth of the lakes near to the pass in question was 
 not considerable, boats were placed at intervals on 
 the water to prevent the quarry from escaping us by 
 swimming. Owing to unforeseen delays, it was all 
 but dark before the Dref reached the spot where the 
 skall was to terminate, by which time the boat parties 
 fancying the hunt at an end, had, contrary to express 
 orders, retired from their several stations. The con- 
 sequence was, that on our arrival at the margin of the 
 lake, a badly-wounded bear that had for some time 
 been retreating before us, plunged headlong into the 
 water, and though twelve or fourteen random shots 
 were fired at him in the gloom, he, to our great mor- 
 tification, effected his escape : though on the following 
 morning I narrowly searched the opposite shore of the 
 lake, which was somewhat rocky and hard, no track 
 was to be found of the lost bear, and had I not after- 
 wards waded along the banks of the lake, and 
 examined the mud at the bottom, where I at length 
 discerned his footsteps, I also might have come to the 
 conclusion that he was still in the water. That death 
 should overtake a wounded bear when he thus 
 plunges into a lake or river and is making for the 
 opposite shore, and that he should afterwards sink to 
 the bottom, is very possible ; and it is certainly within 
 the bounds of credence, though not of probability, 
 that when decomposition subsequently takes place, 
 the carcase may be so entangled among roots, &c., at 
 the bottom, that it cannot rise again to the surface ; 
 but further than this my credulity certainly does not 
 extend." * 
 
 * Mr. Lloyd considers that the story of the sunken log and 
 the skulls is a mere hoax.
 
 230 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 Among the various methods used for the destruc- 
 tion of the bears, there is one which is almost humo- 
 rous in its working. The bears are exceedingly fond 
 of honey, and will climb to great heights to get at a 
 supply of their favourite food. Hives, therefore, are 
 manifestly unsafe, and to protect them from the 
 attacks of the bears many plans are adopted. If 
 the hive is fixed at a considerable height in a tree, 
 the ground under the tree is carefully planted with 
 sharpened stakes, the pointed end being upwards. 
 Just below the hive is placed a stout board as a seat 
 on which the bear can rest, while a heavy log of wood 
 is suspended before the entrance of the hive, but not 
 sufficiently close to annoy the bees. The bear, on 
 sniffing the hives, commences an ascent up the tree, 
 and on reaching the hive finds a capital seat ready 
 for him. So he sits down, and tries to poke his paw 
 into the honeyed stores. The log now comes in his 
 way, and he pushes it away with his paws while he en- 
 deavours to peep into the hive ; but no sooner has he 
 put his nose near the hive than the log returns and 
 hits him on the head. Being naturally exasperated 
 at such treatment, he strikes away the log with his 
 paws, and of course experiences a severer blow than 
 before. Being now thoroughly angry, he engages in a 
 regular fight with the log, which always strikes him 
 on the head, until at last it knocks him fairly off his 
 perch, and throws him on the stakes below, where 
 he remains impaled. 
 
 There is one bear which passes its existence in a 
 semi-aquatic manner, living either in the water, on 
 ice, or among snow. This is the white Polar Bear,* 
 whose habitation is found among the eternal frosts of 
 the North Pole. It is a large and powerful animal, 
 although not quite so large or so powerful as repre- 
 sented by some of the earlier Arctic voyagers, one of 
 whom tells us that he and his comrades killed a bear 
 whose skin was twenty-three feet in length ; and 
 another relates that the bears frequently carried off 
 * Thalarctos maritimut.
 
 BEAR. 231 
 
 seamen and devoured them within sight of their 
 friends, who were unable to prevent their capture, 
 or to release them afterwards. Yet it is a dangerous 
 opponent, and does not yield its life without a severe 
 struggle. 
 
 This bear is almost an historical animal, as Nelson 
 had once nearly lost his life in an attempt to kill a 
 polar bear with an unloaded musket, foolishly ima- 
 gining that he could knock down the animal with the 
 gunstock. Indeed, had it not been for a wide rift in 
 the ice, England would in all probability have un- 
 wittingly lost one of her greatest heroes. Who could 
 have thought at the time that such weighty conse- 
 quences lay in a blow of a musket, and a stroke from 
 a bear's paw ? 
 
 The colour of the polar bear is a yellowish white,' 
 the fur being short and fine over the back, but 
 lengthening considerably towards the under parts of 
 the body. The feet are particularly bushy, and are 
 also furnished with a plentiful supply of fur on the 
 under surfaces, in order to give the animal a firmer 
 hold on the ice. 
 
 The swimming powers of this animal are very 
 great, and, indeed, are required in its chase of fish and 
 seals. The latter animal is, however, so good a 
 swimmer itself, that the bear does not care to chase 
 it in the water, but generally contrives to surprise it 
 when asleep on a piece of ice. When chasing a seal in 
 this way, the bear approaches very stealthily, making 
 long dives, and so manages that at his last dive he 
 comes up directly under the unfortunate seal, who either 
 tumbles into the water in a fright, and is instantly 
 snapped up, or is chased on the ice, where the bear 
 has the advantage in point of speed, and is sure 
 to catch him. But the great banquet of the bear 
 is upon a dead whale, on which, in company with 
 sharks, sea-birds, &c., he feeds, until the carcase is so 
 stripped that the weight of the bones sinks it, and 
 the sharks have it all to themselves.
 
 232 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 But the prey which gives the most trouble is the 
 walrus. This enormous seal is often attacked by the 
 bears, but fights with such fuiy, that it not unfre- 
 quently comes off victorious hi the struggle. Many 
 a walrus has been killed, bearing on its body scars, 
 the results of battles with the polar bears.* In the 
 absence of large prey, such as whales and seals, the 
 white bear does not disdain fish, sea birds and their 
 eggs, and with an accommodating appetite often feeds 
 on roots and berries. 
 
 The tenacity of life in this animal is by no means 
 small, as will be seen from the following account of a 
 bear hunt, taken from Mr. Hooper's interesting work, 
 the " Tents of the Tuski." 
 
 " The brute was discovered on a large mass of ice, 
 which with others had grounded at some distance 
 from the beach ; one party started in the ' logan ' to 
 cut off his retreat by sea, another, which I joined, 
 made for the summit of the bank which we hoped he 
 would endeavour to ascend. First blood was drawn 
 by our party ; a ball from my fowling-piece struck 
 him in the shoulder, and he fell for an instant on the 
 ice and began to suck his paw, which made us think 
 it was there that he had been wounded ; speedily rising 
 he ran on along the hummock, taking to the water 
 and climbing the sides of the masses of ice with the 
 utmost indifference and ease. Our hunters (Indians 
 are always excellent marksmen) now paid him some 
 attention ; the)' hit him several times, but did not 
 succeed in turning him ; he attempted at last to 
 swim to seaward, and would doubtless have suc- 
 ceeded but for a new opponent. One of the Es- 
 quimaux followed the bear, and at close proximity 
 discharged arrow after arrow into his body. This 
 was the most exciting part of the hunt. Each 
 
 * These scars may possibly be caused by battles between 
 themselves. At certain times in the year, the seal tribes be- 
 come very pugnacious, and fight with great fun-, often inflicting 
 deep and dangerous wounds.
 
 BEAR. 233 
 
 time that an arrow pierced its body the poor animal 
 seized the missile, if within reach, with its teeth, and 
 strove to wrench it from the wound, generally, how- 
 ever, breaking it short; then would it turn fiercely on 
 its persecutor, who, skilfully manoauvring his light 
 boat, hung at two or three yards distance only in its 
 rear ; so close were they, indeed, that the man delibe- 
 rately splashed water with his double-bladed paddle 
 in poor Bruin's face, just backing gently to be clear 
 of his paws, a single stroke from which would quite 
 have reversed the fortune of the combat ; when, after 
 a hunt which lasted about four hours, the animal 
 received its final death stroke by a ball through its 
 brain ; he was stuck all over with arrows, and 
 looked like a barbacued pig. By the laws of savage 
 venery first blood always decides the captor; and 
 the Esquimaux readily recognised the rule in the 
 present instance. Of course the carcase was divided, 
 but I stipulated for and obtained the skin, which I 
 still possess as atrophy. An hour afterwards I ate a 
 bear steak. The Esquimaux, who had so importantly 
 contributed to the capture, was rewarded with a large 
 broad dagger, a very awkward weapon in his hands, 
 and some other trifling presents, and was delighted 
 with his good fortune." 
 
 The appearance of this poor bear, bristling like the 
 porcupine with darts, calls to our recollection the 
 tiger mentioned in a former page, who although 
 stuck all over with arrows, and having suffered 
 several arrows to pass completely through his body 
 without much diminution of his strength or ferocity, 
 yet sunk lifeless to the ground from the first shot 
 of a musket. 
 
 It is not one of the least wonderful effects of human 
 reason, that men armed with weapons so insignificant 
 as those borne by the Esquimaux, and labouring under 
 such difficulties for want of materials, should dare to 
 attack, in their own element, animals so powerful as
 
 234 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 the 'whale, or so ferocious as the polar bear, and suc- 
 ceed in destroying both. 
 
 There is, however, a still more singular example, 
 of the ascendancy which man attains over brutes by 
 the mere power of his mind. 
 
 The Esquimaux have a most ingenious plan for the 
 destruction of this bear without the risk of engaging 
 in personal combat with so dangerous an enemy. 
 They take a stout piece of whalebone about two feet 
 hi length, bend it double, and push the two ends into 
 a piece of blubber-. The whalebone thus prepared is 
 placed in the open air, when the cold immediately 
 freezes the blubber, and holds the ends of the whale- 
 bone fast. The weapon is now complete. Armed 
 with this singular instrument the Esquimaux sally out 
 hi search of a bear, and on finding one, provoke it to 
 chase them, a matter of no great difficulty, as " Nen- 
 nook" generally labours under an infirmity of temper, 
 and needs but little irritation. So the bear sets off after 
 the Esquimaux, and the Esquimaux runs away from 
 the bear as fast as they can, until the animal is in right 
 earnest. At last the bear gains on them, and is permitted 
 to come tolerably close, when the fugitives throw the 
 prepared whalebone at it. The bear sniffs at it, and 
 finding it to be eatable, swallows it and resumes the 
 chase. Before very long, however, the heat of its 
 ulterior thaws the blubber, and the whalebone being 
 thus set free, springs open and interferes so materially 
 with the digestion of the unfortunate animal that it 
 gives up the chase, and soon dies from the injuries 
 inflicted. 
 
 The history of this singular internal trap seems to 
 partake in some measure of the devices invented by 
 Baron Munchausen of miraculous memory, but it is 
 nevertheless perfectly true.
 
 BADGER. 235 
 
 BADGER. 
 
 WITH the exception of the true bears, whose history 
 has just been related, the Badgers are much less car- 
 nivorous than the other plantigrade animals. Indeed, 
 in their food, they exhibit a strong resemblance of 
 taste to that of the bears, for they, as well as those 
 animals, feed either on flesh of various kinds, or on 
 vegetable food, such as roots, nuts, and other fruits, 
 and also display a great predilection for honey, 
 which they will devour, regardless of ihe stings of 
 the bees, whose weapons are useless when opposed to 
 the rough fur and thick hide of their assailants. Even 
 the pugnacious wasps are baffled by the passive re- 
 sistance offered by the badger's clothing, and see 
 their nests scratched out of the ground, and their 
 young devoured without the power of preventing such 
 devastations. 
 
 Like almost all wild animals, the badgers feed 
 much on insects, and also vary their repasts by snails 
 and earthworms ; but if they can find the nest of a 
 laying bird, the eggs form a delicious treat, and their 
 contentment is perfect if, at the same time, they can 
 catch the mother, and eat her as well as her eggs. 
 
 In days happily gone by, numbers of badgers were 
 captured for the express purpose of being worried by 
 dogs, who were thought to possess great courage, if 
 they could be induced to attack a badger, and drag 
 him out of a barrel in which he had been placed. 
 But this was humanity compared to the method 
 employed to train dogs to this sport, and which, 
 although probably employed by Dandie Dinmont 
 himself with all his varieties of the " Mustard " and 
 " Pepper " breed, was of so cruel a nature, that those 
 who engaged in the sport would have had but their 
 deserts if they had been soundly flogged by a particu- 
 larly powerful party of drummers, and then pickled 
 afterwards. The poor badger, who was destined to
 
 236 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 instruct the young dog in the art of badger hunting, 
 was placed in a barrel as usual, his teeth drawn, and 
 half his under-jaw sawn off. In this maimed state 
 the poor animal could of course make but little resist- 
 ance, and the dog was therefore encouraged by impu- 
 nity to attack other badgers with their full complement 
 of teeth and jaw. 
 
 Dogs are not to be blamed for their unwillingness 
 to encounter this animal in open combat, as its bites 
 are rapid, the strength of its jaws great, and, more- 
 over, the jawbone, is so jointed to the skull, that when 
 the animal has closed its mouth, its jaw locks itself 
 into a cavity of the skull, and retains its hold without 
 any exertion on the part of the animal. The great 
 strength of their jaws may be ascertained by a glance 
 at the skull, along the upper frontal surface of which 
 runs a heavy ridge of bone, serving as an attachment 
 for the muscles which move the jaw. Even when the 
 dogs have fastened their teeth in the animal, it cares 
 but little for them, as it is effectually protected by 
 its thick fur and tough hide. 
 
 The badger is a fossorial animal, residing in holes, 
 and, like all digging animals, is amazingly strong 
 about the fore-quarters, in proportion to its size. An 
 American badger, which had nearly succeeded in 
 burying its head and shoulders in a hole, resisted 
 the efforts of two powerful men to drag it out of its 
 cave until it had received the contents of a fowling- 
 piece hi its body. It is also said to rise up on its 
 hind legs like a bear, and threaten its opponent with 
 its forefeet like that animal. 
 
 All these things being considered, it will be seen 
 that it is no easy matter for a dog to pull a badger 
 even out of a cask, but when the dog comes to 
 hunt the badger in the field it is a still harder task. 
 If there is time, the badger makes off for his hole, 
 and if not, he rapidly makes a new one, for he can 
 dive through the earth almost as quickly as a mole. 
 So the dog has a hard job to dig him out again,
 
 BADGER. 237 
 
 especially as the badger constantly fills up the passage 
 behind him, by throwing the earth into it, and while 
 the dog is occupied in forcing his way through this 
 new impediment, rises to the surface of the earth and 
 escapes unperceived. But even should the dog drive 
 the badger to bay, the matter is not much mended, 
 for the terrible bites of the badger are tolerably sure 
 to gain the victory, and send the dog yelping away. 
 
 The regular house of the badger is a very ingenious 
 domicile, consisting of a suite of chambers, the last of 
 which is round, and well lined with hay. There are 
 also storehouses, where provisions in the shape of 
 round balls of grass are kept, and sinks where all 
 remnants and other offensive substances are de- 
 posited. 
 
 Although provided with such excellent means of 
 attack as well as defence, the badger is a perfectly 
 harmless creature, and never wittingly attacks any 
 animal (except those on which it feeds), always re- 
 treating to its den on the slightest alarm. Mr. St. 
 John was once a witness to a family party of badgers, 
 whose proceedings I will give in his own words. 
 
 " I was just then startled from my reverie by a kind 
 of grunt close to me, and the apparition of a small, 
 waddling, grey animal, who was busily employed in 
 hunting about the grass and stones at the edge of the 
 lock; presently another and another appeared in a 
 little grassy glade, which ran down to the water's 
 edge, until at last I saw seven of them busily at work 
 within a few yards of me, all coming from one direc- 
 tion. It at first struck me that they were some 
 farmer's pigs taking a distant ramble ; but I shortly 
 saw they were badgers, come from their fastnesses 
 rather earlier than usual, tempted by the evening, 
 and by a heavy summer shower which was just over, 
 and which had brought out an infinity of large black 
 snails and worms, on which the badgers were feeding 
 with good appetite. As I was dressed in grey, and 
 sitting on a grey rock, they did not see me, but wad-
 
 238 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. , 
 
 died about, sometimes close to me, only now and 
 then, as they crossed my track, they showed a slight 
 uneasiness, smelling the ground, and grunting quietly. 
 Presently, a very large one, which I took to be the 
 mother of the rest, stood motionless for a moment, 
 listening with great attention, and then, giving a loud 
 grunt, which seemed perfectly understood by the 
 others, she scuttled away, followed by the whole 
 lot." 
 
 Their dispersion was caused by the approach of a 
 servant, whose distant footsteps had been heard by 
 the watchful ears of the badger long before they had 
 been perceived by the duller organs of hearing of the 
 spectator. 
 
 The same writer gives us many interesting parti- 
 culars of the habits of the badger, exonerating it from 
 the serious charges brought against it, whereby a 
 " brock " was always thought to be a kind of land 
 shark, that might be tormented in any way without 
 laying the tormentor open to the charge of unneces- 
 sary cruelty, and led such a persecuted life, that to 
 " badger " a man came to be the strongest possible 
 term for h-ritating, persecuting, and injuring him in 
 every way. 
 
 The powerful and disagreeable scent of this animal 
 is, probably, another reason for the dislike with which 
 it is viewed by many. Like many of its congeners, 
 the badger is furnished with a pouch on the lower 
 part of the abdomen, in which is secreted a power- 
 fully-smelling substance. This, although it is of an 
 agreeable nature in such animals as the civet-cat, 
 and is used as a perfume, is so very unpleasant in the 
 badger, that its ill scent has become proverbial. We 
 in England and Scotland, in which latter country it 
 is more commonly found, utterly despise the animal, 
 and would as soon think of eating a centipede as a 
 badger; but in other countries people are more sensi- 
 ble, and eat it with great satisfaction, especially when 
 dressed like hams.
 
 BADGER. 239 
 
 Indeed, it is most singular, that the poor in 
 England will actually starve, while there is round 
 them plenty of good food, which their prejudiced 
 notions consider poisonous. A poor family may see 
 their hovels overrun with mice, but would never 
 dream of eating them, even were they half-starved, 
 and reduced to beggary. Yet mice are remarkably 
 good, as I can testify from actual experience, and not 
 to be distinguished from larks. Frogs, ditto ; i. e the 
 legs only, omitting the remainder of the body. Why, 
 a capital dinner of frogs and mice, and such small 
 deer, might often be made, at the expense of an hour's 
 search in any field. 
 
 Poor people eat oysters, which, on the authority of 
 a well-known writer, always accompany poverty, and 
 yet they will not touch snails, merely on account of 
 early prejudice. The Romans of old knew better, 
 and fed up their snails till they were so big. that one 
 snail was a good supper for one man. There is still 
 a colony of these gigantic snails now living near 
 Oxford, the descendants of a stock introduced by the 
 Romans, when they encamped there and built a snail- 
 fold, just as we should make a sheepfold. Now, I 
 should not like to eat a snail myself, and I dare say 
 my reader would not ; but I would venture to say, that 
 a cook might substitute the one mollusc for the other 
 in the dish of scalloped oysters that looks so tempting 
 on the table, without the change being discovered by 
 any one. 
 
 Then there are hedgehogs, animals that can be 
 found in plenty in the fields capital eating, if people 
 only knew it. There are myriads of tiny fish in every 
 brook, which can be scooped out of the water by the 
 bare hand, and which, although individually small, 
 collectively form a dish not to be despised. Indeed, 
 they are but little inferior to whitebait, for which fish, 
 I have reason to suppose, they are often substituted. 
 
 In many rivers and brooks there are plenty of 
 lamperns, a kind of very small lamprey, rather larger
 
 240 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 than the stem of a clay tobacco-pipe. They are par- 
 ticularly good, and yet no one eats them. Only one 
 person have I ever heard of who did so, and he was 
 rather an eccentric old man, who cared not a jot for 
 the opinion of his friends, but went his own way, and 
 was generally right. He used to give boys a half- 
 penny for as many lamperns as would fill a " wisket," 
 a basket peculiar to the north of England, somewhat 
 resembling a very small, very shallow coracle, and 
 made of broad withs ; generally used in collecting 
 stones off the field, or such-like work. The boys 
 were only too happy to find such an opportunity of 
 getting wet through and hunting lamperns, and the 
 old man made many a savouiy dinner for a farthing. 
 Lamperns are excellent food, closely resembling eels 
 both in shape and taste, especially when dressed with 
 their skins. 
 
 Then the vegetable productions are innumerable. 
 The nettles, for example, make an excellent dish 
 when boiled like greens. They ought either to be 
 very young, or only the tops should be taken. There 
 are pignuts to be dug out of the ground; and roots 
 of the common cuckoo-pint, or lords and ladies, as 
 it is generally called, abound everywhere, and when 
 properly dressed, afford a kind of light flour, some- 
 thing resembling arrowroot in its properties. Indeed, 
 in some parts of England, the root is greatly sought 
 after for that purpose. The common puff ball, or 
 frog's cheese, is not to be despised, and when dressed 
 properly, is said to resemble a sweetbread. 
 
 So there are plenty of resources, if people would 
 only take advantage of them, and get the better of 
 their prejudices. 
 
 But to return to our badger. Although its mental 
 powers are despised, it is by no means a stupid 
 animal, although it may appear so to be at a casual 
 glance. One found by Mr. St. John in a trap, suffered 
 him to release it, and to tie a rope to its hind-leg, by 
 which he drove it home, as a countryman drives a
 
 BADGER 241 
 
 pig. This appears very foolish conduct on the part 
 of the badger, but it was not so in reality. Knowing 
 the fossorial properties of the animal, its captor took 
 the precaution of putting it into a paved court, but, 
 when morning came, the badger was gone, having 
 succeeded in displacing a large stone, and then dig- 
 ging a passage under the wall. 
 
 Another badger, mentioned by the same author, 
 had gained some experience from age, and could not 
 be caught, as it had a peculiar talent of getting out 
 the baits and springing all the traps without injury to 
 itself. Once it was watched out of its camp of refuge, 
 and traps were placed in all directions round it, but 
 it contrived to regain its hole in safety by jumping 
 over some of the traps, and rolling over others. 
 
 The badger is a nocturnal animal, being very sel- 
 dom seen during the day a fact which will account 
 for the scarcity of its appearance. It is rather in- 
 teresting as an inhabitant of this country, as it is the 
 only animal that we have which is allied to the bears, 
 who, in former times, used to inhabit our island in 
 great numbers. 
 
 From its very unpleasant odour, it does not appear 
 to be an agreeable animal as a pet. It can, however, 
 be easily tamed if taken young, and displays consider- 
 able affection for its master. Probably, when the 
 animal is domesticated, it does not give out the dis- 
 agreeable scent; for even the skunk can be kept hi 
 a house, and is as sweet an animal as a cat. The 
 same may be said of the snake, which has the power 
 of putting forth a most unpleasant odour, if alarmed 
 or roughly handled; but if tamed, will permit all 
 kinds of liberties to be taken without resenting them. 
 I have had a tame snake for many months. The 
 reptile was constantly getting out of its box, and 
 wandering about the room, and when recaptured 
 never displayed any anger. Several of my pupils 
 were accustomed to carry snakes about with them in
 
 242 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 their pockets, and to give them an airing on the 
 Downs, or a bath in a pond, and yet, after the first 
 few days, never experienced any inconvenience from 
 the neighbourhood of their pets. 
 
 MOLE.* 
 
 WE now come to a group of animals, widely differing 
 from any of their predecessors both in shape and 
 size. These are the insectivorous animals, the moles, 
 the shrews, and the hedgehog, all included in the 
 family Talpida. 
 
 With the common mole all are tolerably familiar, 
 but generally through the medium of a print (none of 
 which have yet properly represented the animal), by 
 the sight of the numerous " molehills " scattered over 
 the fields, or by seeing the moles themselves sus- 
 pended on the twigs of a tree, where the molecatcher 
 has hung them after he has received his reward for 
 their capture. Why he should hang them on trees, 
 I never could make out, nor could any one infoi-m 
 me. I did once ask an experienced molecateher, who 
 replied that he " hallers did," but could give no 
 reason for the custom. They cannot be suspended 
 " in terrorem," as moles working under the earth 
 would not be able to see their companions hanging in 
 the trees, even had they the best eyes in the world, 
 instead of being practically blind ; whether theoreti- 
 cally or not is yet an open question. Be this as it 
 may, the coleopterist is deeply indebted to the mole- 
 catcher, for out of the suspended moles, he often 
 procures rare and beautiful species of beetles. 
 
 No one can examine even the external structure of 
 the mole without admiration of the manner in which 
 it is fitted for its subterraneous life ; its silky hair, set 
 perpendicularly on its skin, offering no resistance to 
 
 * Talpa EuropcRa.
 
 MOLE. ^43 
 
 the sides of its galleries, and being incapable of retaining 
 soil that might arrest its progress ; its broad shovel-like 
 claws, slightly turned outwards like the mould-board 
 of a plough ; its pointed and flexible snout ; its little 
 sharp teeth, so well adapted for seizing and securing 
 the worms on which it feeds ; its imperceptible eyes, 
 hidden in the depth of its fur ; all these properties 
 are evidently so suitable to the habits of the animal, 
 that we cannot avoid admiring them. 
 
 But when we come to remove the skin of the 
 animal, and then to examine its muscular and osteo- 
 logical characteristics, we are even more struck with 
 surprise. The first circumstance that engages our 
 attention on removing the skin of the mole, is the 
 manner in which the whole power of the body is 
 thrown into the fore-quarters, while from the loins 
 backwards, the animal is rather weaker than might be 
 apprehended from its size. The muscles on the 
 shoulders and neck are exceedingly strong, and quite 
 glisten from the tendinous substance surrounding 
 them. The muscles of the fore-legs are perfectly 
 marvellous. They form a mass nearly as large as a 
 man's finger, and are quite hard to the touch, not 
 yielding in the least, but rolling about between the 
 fingers like a hazel-nut. 
 
 When we proceed further, and, by removing these 
 muscles, lay the skeleton bare, we again see a most 
 marvellous structure. The shoulder-blade is narrow, 
 thick, and of immense length in proportion to the 
 animal. Indeed, that of the giraffe is proportionably 
 small, when its skeleton is contrasted with that of the 
 mole. This shape gives the muscles a most power- 
 ful leverage upon the bones of the leg themselves. 
 These are very short, very much bowed, very thick, and 
 very broad at the joints, which are knit together hi 
 the most powerful manner. The joints of the foot or 
 hand are short, and very much flattened, except the 
 last joints, which are nearly as long as the rest of the 
 hand, and bear the long grooved claws. So short are
 
 244 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 the leg bones, that the foot scarcely protrudes beyond 
 the general line of the body, a property required by 
 the habits of the mole, who would otherwise be 
 unable to work with the celerity that is required in its 
 chase of worms, and in escaping from its enemies. 
 
 The skin of the animal is very thick and tough, 
 requiring several cuts from a sharp knife to sever it 
 properly. There is now lying before me a mole, 
 whose skin is so tough and thick, that an incision 
 made into its substance looks as if a deep wound had 
 been made in its muscular structure. The rustics 
 often take advan'tage of this strength of skin, and 
 make purses from mole-skins, by tbe simple process 
 of cutting the animal in half, and stripping the skin 
 from the hinder parts. The skin, which is turned 
 inside out by this process, is then well rubbed with 
 pepper and other substances until dry, when a string 
 is run round it, and it is pronounced ready for use. 
 The skin adheres to the body much more strongly 
 than is found to be the case in most animals. 
 
 The colour of the mole is generally a very deep 
 brownish black, but there are many examples of other 
 colours. In the British Museum are specimens of 
 black, brown, grey, and white moles, all taken from 
 Cobham, in Surrey. I have now before me a white, 
 or rather cream-coloured, moleskin, taken, I believe, 
 in Wiltshire. 
 
 The character of the mole is of a nature hardly 
 warranted by its external appearance. Any one, on 
 seeing the mole, would proclaim it to be a sluggish, 
 cold-blooded, miserable creature, passing its life in 
 the earth, without passions to be excited, or objects 
 to excite them. Yet it is an animal possessed of 
 fierce passions, easily roused to anger, and when 
 roused, most vindictive and persevering in its attacks. 
 
 Whenever a mole happens to stray into the hunting 
 grounds of another, it is instantly attacked by the 
 proprietor if he is within reach, and either one is put 
 to flight, or a furious battle ensues, and the weaker is
 
 MOLE. 245 
 
 generally slain. Nor does this little animal fear to 
 attack even larger foes, for a boy who had incautiously 
 seized a mole was bitten in the finger, to which the 
 mole held with the tenacity of a bull-dog, and could 
 not be shaken off until it had been, in its turn, seized 
 by the teeth of its captor. 
 
 In connection with this ferocity of disposition, an 
 account is given by Geoffroy of the manner in which 
 this animal is said to attack small birds. The mole 
 is described as creeping up slowly, and using every 
 stratagem to get within reach. It then rapidly 
 changes its method of attack, and springing suddenly 
 on the hapless bird, tears it open, and thrusting its 
 muzzle among the intestines, riots in its sanguinary 
 repast. This anecdote, however, so strongly contra- 
 dicts the evident blindness of the mole, that it may 
 well be left open to doubt. For, although the animal 
 is enabled, by a peculiar apparatus, to bring the eye 
 forward, so as partially to free it from the mass of fur 
 that serves to protect it, yet when it is thus withdrawn, 
 the vision is evidently so imperfect, that it would hardly 
 serve to conduct the mole through a process so deli- 
 cate as that of surprising a creature, active and 
 wary as a bird always is, and who could withdraw 
 itself from danger with one stroke of its wings. 
 
 The food of the mole consists almost entirely of 
 the earthworm, although it may sometimes vary its 
 repast, by eating the grubs of various insects that 
 pass their larval state under the earth. Worms, how- 
 ever, are its principal food, and it is in search of them 
 that it drives those galleries under the earth, whose 
 presence is indicated, sometimes by a slight ridge, 
 showing the course of the gallery, and sometimes by 
 the little mounds with which we are all familiar. The 
 worms, on hearing or feeling the agitation of the 
 earth caused by the mole, make their way to the 
 surface in order to escape their enemy. Taking 
 advantage of this habit, certain birds stamp upon the
 
 246 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 ground to delude the worms into the idea that a mole 
 is coming. The worms immediately make for the 
 surface, and are picked up by the crafty bird. In the 
 same way, if anglers are in want of worms, they 
 either stamp on the ground, or work the earth about 
 with a spade, and capture the worms as they come 
 out of their holes. 
 
 The exertion required for the mole to force its 
 way through the earth is, of course, considerable, and 
 as the animal works with the same energy that 
 characterises all .its movements, it requires propor- 
 tionate rest. The molecatcher and field labourer tell 
 us that the mole works and rests at regular intervals 
 of three hours each. In burrowing, the snout seems 
 to be used to pierce the ground first, and the feet are 
 then used to enlarge the aperture. Such was the 
 plan adopted by a mole in my possession, whose 
 residence was a tub half full of earth. In the com- 
 paratively loose earth of the tub, it buried itself with 
 such rapidity, that it was hardly possible to see the 
 method employed, but when it was taken out of the 
 tub, and suffered to run on a hard gravel path, it 
 used to run along at a considerable pace, rooting in 
 the gravel with its snout, evidently seeking for a softer 
 place. Such experiments were rather hazardous, as 
 sometimes it did find a softer place, and half buried 
 itself before we could catch it. Whenever it succeeded 
 in so doing, it was no easy matter to pull it out of 
 the ground again, as it held so firmly with its fore- 
 feet, that we feared lest we should pull it asunder, in 
 our efforts to recapture it. At last it succeeded in 
 escaping, for it pulled so hard, that it resisted all 
 attempts to prevent its escape, and buried itself in 
 the garden, much to the discomfiture of the gardener, 
 who prophesied all kinds of evils to happen in conse- 
 quence. As, however, it never made its appearance 
 again, I suppose that it must have burrowed under 
 the walls of the garden, and made its escape into the
 
 MOLE. 247 
 
 fields beyond. This mole was fed with worms which 
 were put into the tub, and were almost immediately 
 caught and devoured. 
 
 The voracity of the animal is astonishing, and, 
 unlike many voracious animals, it cannot bear to ab- 
 stain from food for any length of time. Indeed, a fast 
 of only six hours is said to be fatal. It also requires 
 a constant supply of water, and if its runs are not 
 near a river or pond, it digs a number of wells, hi 
 which water is sure to be found, some of them being 
 tilled to the brim. But as animals never labour 
 without necessity, the mole generally contrives to run 
 a gallery to some piece of water, and is not often 
 found in very dry places. 
 
 The mole is a good swimmer, for which exercise the 
 peculiar shape of its fore-paws is admirably adapted. 
 Taking advantage of its proficiency, it does not hesi- 
 tate to cross a river of considerable width in order to 
 obtain a wider scope for its chase, and has been 
 known to rescue its young when their nest has been 
 inundated by a sudden flood. 
 
 The traps employed to catch the mole are of various 
 kinds. Some are box traps, that catch the creature 
 alive. This is rather a cruel plan, as, if several moles 
 are caught together, they are apt to fight, and their 
 contests are so sanguinary, that all the combatants 
 are sure to be wounded, and some of them actually 
 killed. Another trap is made of a steel fork, some- 
 thing like a pair of sugar-tongs, but with the blades 
 crossing each other. The blades are kept separate 
 by a piece of iron, and the trap placed in a " run " 
 where the mole is likely to make its appearance. The 
 mole, hi its progress, thrusts away the iron trigger, 
 and the blades immediately spring together, enclosing 
 the mole in their fatal embrace. It seems rather 
 strange that the animal should be killed by means 
 apparently so inadequate, but it must be borne in 
 mind that the mole is killed very easily indeed, par- 
 ticularly by pressure. The common mole-trap is,
 
 248 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 perhaps, as simple and efficacious as any. It consists 
 of a small flat piece of wood about five inches long, 
 and two inches broad. At each end is inserted a bent 
 willow twig, so as to make two arches, under which 
 the mole must go. The interior of these twigs is 
 hollowed, and within the hollow is hidden a loop of 
 whipcord, passing through the board, and fastened to 
 the end of a supple willow or ash stick. The trap is 
 now buried in the run of a mole, the arches being 
 downwards, and the thick end of the ash stick planted 
 in the ground close by. The stick is now bent, the string 
 being so fastened down, that it is only withheld by a 
 wooden catch from springing up, and the trap is set. 
 When the mole comes by, it disturbs the catch, and 
 is immediately caught by the whipcord, and squeezed 
 against the wooden trap until dead. Mostly the 
 stick is so strong, that it breaks the whole affair, trap, 
 mole and all out of the ground, and leaves them dan- 
 gling at the end of the string. 
 
 Armed with that trap which he approves most, the 
 practised molecatcher will take an incredible number 
 of moles in one season. A Cornish molecatcher took 
 twelve hundred in six winter months, while Le Court, 
 to whom we owe most of our knowledge of this 
 animal, took six thousand in five months. Only 
 experienced hunters can be so successful, as a minute 
 acquaintance with the habits of the animal is required, 
 as well as a general knowledge of the situation of 
 their runs. These are so complicated, that a some- 
 what detailed description will be necessary. 
 
 The habitation of the mole is made in a heap of 
 earth raised by the inhabitant itself. This is not, 
 however, one of the numerous molehills so profusely 
 scattered about the fields, but a very much larger 
 heap raised for the purpose of containing the nest, 
 and generally carefully hidden where it will not 
 readily draw attention. It is usually raised at the 
 foot of a tree, in the centre of a thick bush, or in 
 some place where it is well defended. Here is the
 
 MOLE. 249 
 
 mole's dwelling-house, its castle, from whence all its 
 forces are directed, and to which it retreats if threat- 
 ened with any danger. It has the thorough robber's 
 horror for a house with only one way of escape, and 
 accordingly constructs its habitation in so ingenious 
 a manner that it can escape in almost any direction. 
 
 The first operation in constructing a nest is to 
 heap up a mound of earth, very compactly beaten 
 together, as in the mound a variety of passages have 
 to be made, and the earth must, therefore, be very 
 compact, to prevent the soil from falling in. Pro- 
 ceedings having been thus commenced, the four- 
 footed excavator runs a circular gallery near the sum- 
 mit of the mound, and another near the bottom. 
 These galleries are then connected by five short 
 passages. It then works its way into the very centre 
 of the mound, and digs a spherical hole, which it 
 connects with the lower gallery by three passages. A 
 very large passage, called the mole's high road, is 
 then dug outside the nest, and is connected with the 
 spherical hole by a gallery dipping under the circular 
 galleries, and entering the lower part of the spherical 
 hole. Lastly, the mole drives a great number of runs 
 radiating from the nest in all directions, and all 
 opening into the lower circular gallery. It will be 
 seen from this description that if a mole is surprised 
 in its nest, it can either dive through its central 
 chamber arid so reach the high road at once, or it 
 can slip through either of the short galleries, and so 
 escape into any of the numerous radiating runs. 
 
 In the central spherical chamber the mole places a 
 quantity of grass or leaves, and uses this as its bed- 
 chamber, in which it passes hours of deep repose, so 
 that after it has finished its work in quarrying, it 
 betakes itself to the middle chamber, and there 
 receives its wages in the form of sleep. This compli- 
 cated house is not used in the summer months, as 
 during that time the mole commonly resides in one 
 of the ordinary molehills.
 
 250 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 Mention has been made of the " high road." This 
 is so important a portion of the habitation, that it 
 cannot be passed over without further mention. By 
 the high road the mole travels to the various portions 
 of its hunting grounds, and into the high road all the 
 smaller runs open. It is much larger than either of 
 the other galleries, and is made very hard and smooth 
 ha the interior, by the constant friction of the mole's 
 body. The method of construction differs from that 
 of the other galleries. They are made by excavation, 
 the earth being, thrown up every now and then, and 
 forming the well-known molehills, but the high road 
 is made principally by the pressure of the mole's 
 body, just as a stake makes a hole if driven into the 
 earth. Indeed, the two kinds of galleries may be 
 compared to two kinds of mines made by engineers 
 in besieging a city, the one being made by digging 
 out the earth, and the other by exploding small quan- 
 tities of gunpowder so as to force the earth away on 
 every side. The great size of the passage is partly to 
 be accounted for by the constant passage of the mole 
 to and from its fortification. 
 
 The passage, although large for a single mole, is 
 not sufficiently large to accommodate two, so that if 
 two moles do happen to meet, the weaker always 
 retreats into one of the side passages that open into 
 the high road, and permits the other to pass. This 
 is not an unfrequent occurrence, for although two 
 moles do not use the same hunting grounds, yet 
 several often make use of the same high road. 
 
 During the warmer months of the year the labours 
 of this curious animal are comparatively light, as the 
 earthworms lie mostly near the surface, but when the 
 cold winter months have frozen the surface of the 
 earth and driven the worms far below, then its work 
 really becomes laborious. In order to get at the 
 haunts of worms, the mole is forced to commence its 
 labours by sinking a perpendicular well until it arrives 
 at the yet unfrozen soil. When there, it has to work
 
 MOLE. 251 
 
 quite as continuously as in the summer months, for 
 from* the nature of its food it cannot lay up provisions 
 for the winter, and its constitution is of such a nature 
 that a very short fast proves fatal. So work it must, 
 if it desires to live at all, and it does work, although 
 the ground is naturally much more hard and un- 
 manageable than the upper portions. The lightest 
 labour of the mole is in the summer months after a 
 moderate shower. The worms are then all at the 
 surface of the ground, and the mole pursues them by 
 digging a shallow trench, not even deep enough to 
 bury its own body. But this work is principally con- 
 fined to the females. 
 
 The speed of a mole even on the surface is far 
 from inconsiderable, but when the animal is placed 
 in its own high road, it can run with speed equal, as 
 Le Court says, to that of a horse at full trot. He 
 tried the experiment in a very ingenious way. Having 
 discovered that the mole was busy at one extremity 
 of the high road, he fixed a number of straws in the 
 earth, the ends of which penetrated into the passage, 
 while to their tops were slightly fastened small paper 
 flags. He then went to the place where the mole 
 was at work, and by a discordant blast of a horn 
 introduced into the passage, he caused the mole to 
 set off at full speed towards its fortress. In so doing 
 the paper flags were thrown off in succession, as the 
 mole in its course struck against the ends of the 
 straw that penetrated the passage, and from the time 
 taken in passing along the gallery, Le Court calculated 
 the speed of the animal. 
 
 The habitation thus described belongs to the mole 
 himself, while his wife lives in a distinct edifice, 
 generally situated at some distance from the fortress, 
 and constructed at the point where two or more runs in- 
 tersect each other. The earth being thrown out forms a 
 hill much larger than the ordinary mounds, and nearly 
 equalling that in which the fortress is constructed. 
 The bed is formed of a mass of herbage of various
 
 252 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 kinds, generally roots and dried grass, although, on 
 one occasion, upwards of two hundred blades of 
 green wheat were found to have formed the bed. In 
 this chamber, the mother mole generally bears from 
 three to six young, which remain with their parent 
 until they are nearly half grown. 
 
 These domiciles are inhabited by the moles from 
 the autumn until the spring, at which time they are 
 deserted, the mole living in one of the ordinary 
 mounds, while a field mouse generally takes posses- 
 sion of the vacant habitation. 
 
 Opinions appear to vary respecting the good or 
 harm done by the mole. It certainly does some 
 good, by establishing a system of subsoil drainage, 
 such as no farmer could carry out, and considerably 
 lightens the soil, by the earth thrown to the surface. 
 The agriculturists, on the other hand, object that 
 the crops are injured by the mole coming in contact 
 with the roots, or that they are actually dug up by the 
 shallow furrows which have been before mentioned. 
 The soil also, they say, is rendered too dry, and the 
 moles not unfrequently devour, together with the 
 worms, the roots of com and grass among which they 
 have entangled themselves. At all events, such roots 
 have been found in their stomachs, and it is difficult 
 to account for their presence in any other way. The 
 fanners, too, are very angry with the mole, because 
 its deserted habitation forms a place of refuge for the 
 field mouse. As it is always easier to accuse than to 
 defend, the' accusers gain the day, and multitudes of 
 moles are annually slain, whether to any good pur- 
 pose or not, it is difficult to say. except, perhaps, that 
 an industrious man can thereby obtain a tolerable 
 subsistence without much outlay of capital ; a spud, a 
 few dozen willow or ash sticks, and some string, being 
 all the stock in trade required. 
 
 In some parts of England, people talk of a " water- 
 mole." but accoi'ding to Mr. Jenyns, this animal is 
 nothing but a black variety of the common water-rat.
 
 MOLE. HEDGEHOG. 253 
 
 The mole goes by various names in different parts of 
 England, the principal being the " want," a name 
 probably corrupted from the Danish " wand." In 
 Scotland it is called, " moudie-warp," which name is 
 derived from the Anglo-Saxon words, " molde," mould, 
 or soil, and " weorpan," to turn up. From the first 
 part of the word we get our word "mole." 
 
 HEDGEHOG.* 
 
 WERE we to say that the fur of the mole is as soft as 
 velvet, we should be decrying the beautiful softness of 
 the fur we should rather say that velvet is as soft as 
 a mole's fur. Widely different, however, is the cover- 
 ing of the animal that stands next to the mole in the 
 zoological series. In the hedgehog, the fur is sup- 
 planted by innumerable sharp spines, acutely pointed 
 at their extremities, swelling in the middle, and 
 decreasing in size towards the skin. The method in 
 which these spines are fastened into the skin is very 
 remarkable. The end that stands outwards is very 
 sharp, but the other is terminated by a round knob, 
 and the spine is, apparently, thrust through the skin, 
 until it is stopped by the knob, by which it is held 
 much in the same way that a pin would be held if 
 thrust through a piece of leather. By the way, we 
 can form an excellent method of comprehending the 
 setting of the spines through the medium of a piece 
 of leather and a few pins. 
 
 Take a piece of tolerably stout leather, and push a 
 dozen pins through it, up to the very head. Now 
 bend all the pins so that their points will form an 
 angle of about 45 with the leather. That is 
 the way in which the spines are fixed in the skin, but 
 if we wish to see how the hedgehog is enabled to 
 raise these spines, we must do something more. Take 
 a piece of linen, and lay it against the inner side of 
 * Erinaceus Europceus.
 
 254 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 the leather, fastening all the heads of the pins to it. 
 Now, if you draw the linen towards the direction in 
 which the points of the pins lie, you will find that 
 all the pins will stand upright, the pins forming 
 levers, of which the skin is the fulcrum. The linen 
 will represent that extraordinary muscle which lies 
 under the skin of most animals, and is developed to 
 such an extent in the hedgehog. 
 
 By means of this muscle, the hedgehog is enabled 
 to maintain its position when it has curled itself into 
 a ball. The muscle is not so very powerful on the 
 back, but is enormously large along the sides. When, 
 therefore, the hedgehog fears an enemy, it tucks its 
 head under its breast, at the same time drawing its 
 legs within the scope of this muscle, which, by 
 its contraction, forms a complete rope round the 
 body, binding it together with such force that the 
 animal cannot be opened without rending asunder 
 this muscle. However, there are no animals who 
 would attempt such a feat, for at the same time that 
 the animal curls round, the contraction of the muscle 
 draws all the spines upright, and offers a chevaux-de- 
 frise which few wish to encounter. 
 
 Hedgehogs are considered very good provender, 
 mostly, however, by those roving tribes who wander 
 from town to town all their lives, and, having a whole- 
 some horror of streets where policemen live, encamp 
 in the open air. The scientific method of preparing 
 this dainty is, after knocking the animal on the head, 
 to look out for some good clay. The hedgehog is 
 then placed on a fire, where it is rolled about until 
 all the bristles are singed off. It is then well rubbed 
 to clear away the ashes, and then, being wrapped up 
 in the clay, the whole mass is placed on the fire, and 
 kept carefully covered with the ashes. After a time, 
 the clay cracks, and the hedgehog is pronounced to 
 be properly cooked. The clay is then broken, and 
 the hedgehog extracted, having been baked in a 
 manner not to be equalled by any oven. It is not
 
 HEDGEHOG. 255 
 
 necessary to clean the animal before putting it on the 
 fire, as when it is opened the whole of the inside falls 
 out in a hard mass. 
 
 But there are other animals besides man who fully 
 appreciate the value of the hedgehog, but who, not 
 being possessed of reason, are not so well able to 
 gratify their wishes. For the array of spines forms a 
 barricade which none, except a very well-trained dog, 
 or a very hungry fox, will take the trouble to oppose. 
 The dog attacks it boldly, and after a struggle, during 
 which he is wounded in numerous places by the sharp 
 spines, succeeds in tearing it to pieces. The fox, 
 however, is said to employ stratagem, and to roll the 
 poor creature into a pool of water, if one be near, and 
 when it puts out its head, to snap it up in an instant. 
 
 This bristly armour exists only on the upper 
 surface of the body, all the under parts being clothed 
 with long thick fur. Indeed, if the lower surface 
 were covered with prickles, the poor creature would 
 not feel particularly comfortable when rolled up. 
 Many of my readers will remember that admirable 
 simile of an envious man, who lived 
 
 " . . . . Like a hedgehog rolled up the wrong way, 
 Tormenting himself with his bristles." 
 
 These bristles, sometimes, are made to serve a rather 
 unexpected use. Mr. Bell has recorded a feat of a 
 tame hedgehog in his own possession. The little 
 animal was in the habit of fearlessly throwing itself 
 off a wall, of nearly fourteen feet in height, trusting 
 to the elasticity of its spines to save it irom injury. 
 It made no stop or hesitation, but threw itself over at 
 once, contracting into a ball as it fell, and after it 
 reached the ground, it would lie quiet for a few 
 moments, and then unfold itself, and run off. 
 
 The hedgehog has been accused of being a thief in 
 many matters, especially in the matter of milk and 
 apples. The one it was said to suck from the cows, 
 and the other to steal by rolling over them until its
 
 256 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 spines were covered, and then running away home 
 with a load of apples on its back. Some said, that it 
 got up the tree first and knocked the apples down, 
 and others affirmed that it carried off eggs also by 
 rolling upon them and fixing them on its back. As 
 to the first of these attacks it is almost too absurd to 
 need refutation, as the mouth of the creature is too 
 small for any such operation, and even if that were 
 not the case, its spines would cause the cow to keep ' 
 it away. There may, however, be some ground for 
 the farmers' complaint, as I have seen ordinary pigs 
 suck the cows while they were lying on the ground, 
 and the fanners may probably have supposed that 
 hedge pigs and bacon pigs were much the same kind 
 *of animal. As toffie second accusation, it is almost ' 
 as unfounded as the first. Not that hedgehogs da 
 not occasionally walk about with apples on their 
 spines, for I have been told so by an eye-witness to. 
 the fact, a man who was rather given to the study of 
 natural history, and who had been much struck with 
 the circumstance. But although they may be seen 
 with an apple or so sticking on their backs, yet the 
 apples most probably came there accidentally. It is 
 a very common thing to find a hedgehog covered with 
 leaves through which its spines are thrust, but we 
 do not, therefore, accuse it of eating leaves. In all 
 probability, the creature had been alarmed, and had 
 hastily rolled itself up in a spot where apples were 
 lying, and in that case, some of them would be nearly 
 certain to adhere to the spines. As to the eggs we 
 wonder how many pins a man could stick into a hen's 
 egg without breaking it. 
 
 The usual food of hedgehogs is insects of various 
 kinds, and earthworms, together with some vegetable 
 substances. White tells us that some in his garden were 
 very fond of the root of the common plantain, and that 
 they contrived to bore under the plant, so as to eat the 
 root, leaving the stem and leaves untouched. There is 
 an interesting account by the Rev. L. Jenyns, of the
 
 HEDGEHOG. 257 
 
 manner in which the hedgehog feeds upon 
 worms : 
 
 " Hedgehogs are still about, and on the alert for 
 food. I fell in with one to-day in my walks, in a 
 sheltered part of the garden, which I was enabled to 
 watch unobserved, and which afforded me an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing a little into then- habits and mode of 
 feeding. It was creeping up and down a grass walk, 
 apparently hi busy search for worms. It carried its 
 snout very low, insinuating it among the roots of the 
 herbage, and snuffing about under the dead leaves 
 which lay about. After a time, it commenced scratch- 
 ing at a particular spot, to which it seemed directed 
 by the scent, and drew out a very large worm from 
 just beneath the surface of the ground. This it 
 immediately began to devour, taking it into the 
 mouth by one extremity, and gradually eating its way 
 to the other, an operation which lasted some time, 
 and was attended by an incessant action of the teeth, 
 which grated upon each other with a peculiar noise. 
 After the worm was all gone, as I thought, I was 
 surprised to see the whole put out of the mouth 
 again, and from the appearance of the cast, I was led 
 to believe that it had only been subjected to the action 
 of the teeth for the purpose of being bruised, and 
 squeezing out the soft internal parts of the body, 
 which alone were eaten in the first instance. The 
 skin itself, however, was shortly retaken into the 
 mouth, and the whole clean devoured. 
 
 " From the above observation it is probable that 
 worms form no inconsiderable part of the food of the 
 hedgehog, and that they are enabled to detect them 
 by the smell, and to extract them from the ground 
 with their snout, after the same manner that the hog 
 uses his in searching for buried food. In the above 
 instance no attempt was made to kill the worm before 
 eating it, but that part of the poor creature which was 
 still out of the mouth of the hedgehog kept up a 
 
 s
 
 258 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 continual writhing as the nibbling of its other extre- 
 mity proceeded." 
 
 And no wonder either ! 
 
 The hedgehog can be domesticated very easily, and 
 is an useful resident in a kitchen, from whence it 
 speedily eradicates all the cockroaches and black 
 beetles that abound to such an unpleasant extent in 
 some houses. I have possessed several hedgehogs, 
 mostly for this purpose, but they all contrived to 
 make their escape from the kitchen into the garden, 
 where they doubtless found food more congenial to 
 their taste than cockroaches and black beetles, even 
 although a saucer of milk was placed for their use 
 every night. One of my prickly favourites committed 
 suicide in a rather curious manner. It always pre- 
 ferred to live in an outhouse in which were piled a 
 large number of bean sticks, and among these sticks 
 it delighted to hide itself. As we kept the animal for 
 the express purpose of eating cockroaches, it was 
 necessary to take it away from the bean sticks, and 
 restore it to the kitchen. On one of these occasions, 
 we found the poor hedgehog hanging quite dead, its 
 neck being firmly fixed in a forked stick. We conjec- 
 tured that it must have been clambering among the 
 sticks, that it must have slipped from some height, 
 and have been caught by the throat in its fall, as its 
 neck was fixed so firmly in the fork that it required 
 rather a strong pull to extricate it. 
 
 My hedgehogs had a great talent for hiding them- 
 selves during the day ; and so well did they manage it, 
 that even when their haunts were known, it was not 
 at all easy to see them, and their hiding places had 
 generally to be explored by the hand. 
 
 The stomach and digestive organs in general of 
 this animal are of wonderful power. It seems invulne- 
 rable to poison. Hydrocyanic acid has no effect on it, 
 leither have cantharides (the beetles of which blisters 
 re made), nor has corrosive sublimate. Here, how-
 
 HEDGEHOG. 259 
 
 ever, the hedgehog has a companion in endurance, 
 namely, the horse, whose coat is actually improved in 
 sleekness by a dose of corrosive sublimate adminis- 
 tered internally. 
 
 External poisons appear to have as little effect on 
 the hedgehog as those administered internally, for 
 the animal is said to engage in battle with the viper, 
 and when bitten, to suffer no moi*e inconvenience 
 than would naturally be occasioned by a wound from 
 sharp teeth. This may really be the case; for Dr. 
 Buckland, having reason to suspect that hedgehogs 
 occasionally preyed on snakes, determined to ascertain 
 whether they did so or not. He, therefore, placed a 
 hedgehog and a common snake in the same box, and 
 watched their proceedings. For some time the hedge- 
 hog remained in its contracted state, and did not 
 appear to see the snake, which was slowly creeping 
 round the box. The hedgehog was then laid upon 
 the snake, and as the reptile began to crawl, it par- 
 tially opened its body, and, for the first time, caught 
 a glimpse of the snake. It then gave the snake a 
 severe bite, and resumed its rolled-up condition. 
 Three times it repeated this operation, and at the 
 third bite broke the snake's back. Having thus ren- 
 dered its opponent powerless, it proceeded to treat 
 the helpless snake in precisely the same manner as 
 was related above, of its treatment of the worm. The 
 body of the snake was passed slowly through its jaws, 
 the bones being, by repeated bites, broken at intervals 
 of about half an inch. The hedgehog then began at 
 the tail, and commenced eating the snake until half 
 of it had been devoured, and by the next morning 
 had completely finished it. 
 
 The hedgehog is a nocturnal animal, being very 
 rarely found in the daytime, but veiy common at 
 night. I once took a hedgehog in a pit about four 
 feet in depth, that had been dug to receive a large 
 pole. The little animal had been wandering about 
 in search of food, and fallen inadvertently into the pit. 
 
 s 2
 
 260 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE 
 
 There is no British animal that hybernates so 
 completely as does the hedgehog. Even the dor- 
 mouse awakens at intervals during the whiter months, 
 and partakes of its store of nuts or grain before 
 falling again into slumber ; but the hedgehog makes 
 no provision for the winter, and when once curled up 
 asleep in its snug nest, remains there in a state of 
 deep slumber until the warm spring weather rouses it 
 from its long sleep. Its nest is admirably adapted 
 for such a habit, being invariably built in some shel- 
 tered situation, generally under the naked roots of 
 some large tree, in a hole of a rock, under large 
 stones, or some such secure place, and rendered very 
 warm and comfortable by a large mass of moss and 
 leaves, among which the hedgehog rolls itself, and 
 there remains, secured from cold by the thickness of 
 its bed, and from rain both by the substances under 
 whose shelter it is placed, and by the admirably- 
 constnicted roof, which is so compact, that even were 
 it exposed to the fury of the weather, the rain would 
 be thrown off, and the interior kept dry. 
 
 OPOSSUM* 
 
 THE next animal to which our attention is drawn is 
 the Opossum. This animal is one of that strange 
 tribe, who carry their little ones in their pocket, like 
 the old nurse hi the fantoccini, and if their young are 
 in danger, put them in their pocket, and run away 
 with them. To the same family belong the kanga- 
 roos, &c. The following account, taken from Audu- 
 bon, is so animated a picture of the habits of this 
 animal, that I can do no better than insert the passage 
 unmutilated : 
 
 " Methinks I see one at this moment slowly and 
 
 cautiously trudging over the melting snows by the 
 
 side of an unfrequented pond, nosing as it goes for 
 
 the fare its ravenous appetite prefers. Now it has 
 
 * Diddphys Virginiana.
 
 OPOSSUM. 261 
 
 come upon the fresh track of a grouse or hare, and it 
 raises its snout and sniffs the pure air. At length it has 
 decided on its course, and it speeds onwards at the 
 rate of a man's ordinary walk. It stops and seems at 
 a loss in what direction to go, for the object of its 
 pursuit has either taken a considerable leap, or has 
 cut backwards before the opossum entered its track. 
 It raises itself up, stands for a while on its hind feet, 
 looks around, snuffs the air again, and then proceeds ; 
 but now, at the foot of a noble tree, it comes to a full 
 stand. It walks round the base of the large trunk, 
 over the snow-covered roots, and among them finds 
 an aperture, which it at once enters. Several minutes 
 elapse, when it re-appears, dragging along a squirrel 
 already deprived of life, with which in its mouth it 
 begins to ascend the tree. Slowly it climbs. The 
 first fork does not seem to suit it, for perhaps it thinks 
 it might there be too openly exposed to the view of 
 some wily foe, and so it proceeds, until it gains a 
 cluster of branches, intertwined with grape-vines, and 
 there composing itself, it twists its tail round one of 
 the twigs, and with its sharp teeth demolishes the 
 unlucky squirrel, which it holds all the while with its 
 fore-paws. 
 
 " The pleasant days of spring have arrived, and 
 the trees vigorously shoot forth their leaves ; but the 
 opossum is almost bare, and seems nearly exhausted 
 by hunger. It visits the margin of creeks, and is 
 pleased to see the young frogs, which afford it a 
 tolerable repast. Gradually the poke-berry and the 
 nettle shoot up, and on their tender and juicy stems 
 it gladly feeds. The matin calls of the wild turkey- 
 cock delight the ear of the cunning creature, for it 
 well knows that it will soon hear the female, and 
 trace her to her nest, when it will suck the eggs with 
 delight. Travelling through the woods, perhaps on 
 the ground, perhaps aloft, from tree to tree, it hears 
 a cock crow, and its heart swells as it remembers the 
 savoury food on which it regaled itself last summer
 
 262 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 in the neighbouring farm-yard. With great care, 
 however, it advances, and at last conceals itself in the 
 very hen-house. 
 
 " Honest farmer ! why did you kill so many crows 
 last winter '? aye, and ravens too ? Well, you have 
 had your own way of it ; but now, hie to the village 
 and procure a store of ammunition, clean your rusty 
 gun, set your traps, and teach your lazy curs to watch 
 the opossum. There it comes ! The sun is scarcely 
 down, but the appetite of the prowler is here ; hear 
 the screams of one of your best chickens that has 
 been seized by him ! The cunning beast is off with 
 it, and nothing now can be done, unless you stand 
 there to watch the fox or the owl, now exulting on the 
 thought that you have killed their enemy and your 
 own friend, the poor crow. That precious hen under 
 which you last week placed a dozen eggs or so, is now 
 deprived of them. The opossum, notwithstanding 
 her angry outcries and ruffled feathers, has consumed 
 them one by one ; and now, look at the poor bird as 
 she moves across your yard ; if not mad, she is at 
 least stupid, for she scratches here and there, calling 
 to her chickens all the while. All this comes from 
 your shooting crows. Had you been more merciful 
 or more prudent, the opossum might have been kept 
 within the woods, where it would have been satisfied 
 with a squirrel, a young hare, the eggs of a turkey, or 
 the grapes that so profusely adorn the boughs of our 
 forest trees. But I talk to you in vain. 
 
 " But suppose the farmer has surprised an opossum 
 in the act of killing one of his best fowls. His angry 
 feelings urge him to kick the poor beast, which, con- 
 scious of its inability to resist, rolls off like a ball. 
 The more the farmer rages, the more reluctant is the 
 animal to manifest resentment ; at last there it lies, 
 not dead, but exhausted, its jaws open, its tongue 
 extended, its eyes dimmed ; and there it would lie 
 until the bottle-fly should come to deposit its eggs, 
 did not its tormentor walk off. ' Surely,' says he to
 
 BAT. 263 
 
 himself, ' the beast must be dead.' But no, reader, 
 it? is only ' 'possuming,' and no sooner has his enemy 
 withdrawn, than it gradually gets on its legs, and 
 once more makes for the woods." 
 
 RAT.* 
 
 OMITTING all the mammalia that are comprehended 
 under the names of seals, dolphins, and whales, we 
 arrive at a group of animals easily distinguished by 
 their external characteristics. These are the rodents, 
 or gnawing animals. All these creatures may be 
 readily discovered by a glance at the formation of the 
 mouth, which even externally is easily distinguished 
 from that of the carnivorous, insectivorous, or rumi- 
 nant animals. The only exception is the largest of 
 the group, the Capybara, which, at a first glance, so 
 closely resembles a hog, that many have been deceived 
 by its shape and bristly hide ; but even this animal 
 may be at once set down as a rodent, if the observer 
 can only obtain a clear view of its mouth. 
 
 The principal characteristic of the rodents is the 
 formation of the teeth. These organs are made in a 
 veiy singular manner. All the rodents are much 
 given to gnawing, as their name implies, and in many 
 cases, such as the beaver, or even the common rat, 
 the teeth are used so often and so vigorously that they 
 would soon be worn away were they formed like those 
 of other animals. 
 
 In order to obviate this difficulty, their teeth have 
 a very peculiar construction. Their edges are sharp 
 and chisel-like, enabling the animal to cut its way 
 through woody substances with great rapidity. Teeth, 
 however, partake of the nature of every earthly mate- 
 rial, and wear away by constant friction, even against 
 a softer substance. To supply the place of the sub- 
 stance thus lost, the tooth is perpetually pushed 
 forward by a deposition at its root, so that as fast as 
 * Mus decumanus.
 
 2C4 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 the cutting edge of the tooth is worn away, the tooth 
 js pushed forward by the new substance at its root. 
 This augmentation is constantly going on, and 
 although in general it is so beneficial in its effects, 
 yet it sometimes becomes not only a source of annoy- 
 ance, but also a cause of destruction to the poor 
 animal. It sometimes happens that the incisor teeth 
 are twisted aside, or that one projects a little fur- 
 ther than is correct. In such a case, the animal is 
 unable to gnaw, and the tooth, not being worn away 
 in front, yet receiving fresh accession of substance 
 from behind, continually increases in length until the 
 poor animal is unable even to close its mouth, and 
 eventually dies of starvation. Such an event is not 
 uncommon among rabbits, both wild and tame. 
 There are few museums where there are not several 
 examples of such distorted teeth. There are some 
 remarkable specimens in the museum of the College 
 of Surgeons, in London, and one or two good exam- 
 ples in the Anatomical Museum at Oxford. 
 
 The incisor teeth being intended for cutting away 
 woody fibre, must needs have a cutting edge kept always 
 sharp. This object is attained in a manner equally 
 wonderful and simple. A carpenter's chisel is made by 
 fixing a thin strip of steel to a larger blade of iron, 
 and an axe is formed by enclosing a very thin steel 
 plate between two thick iron blades. In the rodents 
 the teeth are formed on the chisel principle, only the 
 anterior surface of the tooth being covei'ed with a 
 thin coat of enamel, the remainder being formed of 
 the comparatively soft substance that forms the body 
 of the tooth. By the necessary friction of the tooth 
 against the corresponding tooth in the opposite jaw, 
 as well as by its constant employment in eating or 
 nibbling, the softer substance is soon worn away, 
 leaving the enamel to produce and preserve a sharp 
 edge. 
 
 It must be understood that the whole of the pre- 
 ceding description refers only to the incisor teeth, as
 
 BAT. 265 
 
 the other teeth are formed like those of other animals, 
 excepting in their number. The rodents have no 
 canine teeth at all, a considerable gap being left be- 
 tween the incisors and the molars. Of the molar 
 teeth there are but few, as many teeth would not be 
 required. The incisors are always four in number, 
 two in each jaw, if we except the hares and rabbits, in 
 whose jaws a very small tooth rises behind the large 
 permanent incisors. 
 
 The upper lip in these animals is divided, a struc- 
 ture probably intended for the proper management of 
 food, in its passage between the two incisor teeth. 
 For the further attainment of that purpose, the lips 
 are slightly prehensile, as may be seen by watching 
 a rabbit eat a cabbage-leaf or a sprig of parsley. 
 
 All, however, are not strictly herbivorous, as there 
 are some who not only eat animal and vegetable 
 matters indifferently, but even appear to prefer the 
 animal. Of this number is the rat, who finds a high 
 place among the rodents in the Catalogue of the 
 British Museum, and must therefore take precedence 
 of more interesting and agreeable animals. 
 
 We can accustom ourselves to mice, and can at last 
 even like the little bright-eyed, soft-furred, slender- 
 limbed, long-tailed creatures ; but very few persons 
 have succeeded in habituating themselves to rats. In 
 fact, the nearer acquaintance we make with rats, the 
 more we seem to detest them. Not that they are 
 ugly animals, for they yield not in beauty to'the mice, 
 but they are such disgusting animals in their habits, 
 and so fierce when assaulted, that it is almost impos- 
 sible for even the most ardent lover of natural history 
 to reconcile himself to their presence. 
 
 There seems to be no part of a house that the rats 
 will not get into, if they have taken up their residence 
 in it. Doors are useless defences, as the little sharp 
 teeth rapidly cut a hole under the door, through 
 which whole tribes of rats pass and repass. So eager 
 are they in the pursuit of food, that they will burrow
 
 266 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 considerable distances, suffering nothing short of 
 stone or iron to stop them ; and they have even been 
 seen to reach a ship by climbing up a rope that had 
 been used to warp the vessel out of dock, and had been 
 inadvertently suffered to remain still attached to the 
 shore. A slight strip of brass or iron, fastened at 
 the bottom of each door, is, however, an obstacle that 
 not even a rat's teeth can penetrate. Lead they seem 
 to bite easily enough. I lately saw a piece of a very 
 thick leaden pipe that had been gnawed through in 
 several places by the rats, in order that they might 
 get at the water which was passing through the pipe. 
 The lead was grooved in numerous places with their 
 teeth, and in some places it was gnawed through. 
 The sagacity of the animal must have been of no 
 mean order to enable it to discover the presence of 
 water in a strong leaden pipe. 
 
 Rats can climb capitally, and generally choose the 
 angle of a wall for the display of that particular kind 
 of agility, when they wish to reach a shelf or a closet 
 raised above the floor. 
 
 The worst of rats is, that their habits are so un- 
 cleanly. They are very fond of drains and sewers, and 
 the more filthy the drain is, the more fascinating it 
 seems to be to the rats. Then after spending several 
 hours in a drain, they will emerge, make their way 
 into the larder, run over everything eatable that they 
 can find, eat what they prefer, and leave everything 
 that they reject, in a hopeless state. Virgil must 
 have borrowed his idea of the harpies from a recol- 
 lection of a visit from a host of rats. 
 
 The rat that we generally find in our houses is the 
 brown or Norway rat,* it having driven out and sup- 
 planted the real English rat, the Black rat,f much in 
 the same way that the cockroach J has succeeded in 
 usurping possession of our kitchens. The Black rat is 
 now exceedingly scarce, and, in all probability, will be 
 extinct hi a very short time, being persecuted to death 
 * Mus decumanus. t Mus rattus. J Blatta orientalis.
 
 EAT. 267 
 
 by its brown rival. The Black rat is not nearly so 
 large as the Norway rat, and was, hi consequence, 
 easily overpowered by it. Some years ago, Mr. 
 Waterton considered the sight of a Black rat a very 
 uncommon one, and predicted its speedy extirpation 
 from British soil; a circumstance for which he 
 appears to blame William III. more than the Hano- 
 verian rat. 
 
 The same author, being led on partly by his hatred 
 of the Hanoverian rats, as Hanoverian, and partly by 
 his objection to the noise that they made, and to their 
 filthy habits, waged a successful war of extirpation, at 
 the end of which he was enabled to boast that there 
 was not a Hanoverian in his house. On finding that 
 the rats were accustomed to enjoy their sports behind 
 his wainscotings, he tried many ways to force them 
 to leave his premises, but in vain. He tried poison, 
 but as the rats would con turn eliously die behind the 
 wainscoting, the consequences were so disastrous, that 
 the room was unoccupied for several months. 
 
 This reminds me of a plan adopted by a naturalist 
 of an inventive genius, for discovering the exact posi- 
 tion of a dead rat, the scent of which filled the entire 
 room, and could not be traced to any particular spot. 
 He closed the doors and windows of the room, caught 
 half a dozen blue-bottle flies, and liberated them in 
 the tainted room. Led by their instinct, they instantly 
 flew to the spot where was lying the carcase of the 
 rat, and by settling on the boards, indicated the exact 
 spot where the dead rat lay. 
 
 Being so annoyed by the rats, Mr. Waterton in- 
 vented another plan. Having one day caught a rat 
 in a box trap, he dipped its hinder parts into warm 
 tar, and suffered it to escape. Its friends, disliking 
 the smell of the tar, and fearing that they might be 
 subjected to the same treatment, ran away, and for 
 some months did not return. It was found after- 
 wards on removing a hollow plinth behind which the 
 rats used to make the most noise, that they had
 
 2b ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 gnawed away the comer of a very hard brick, which 
 happened to obstruct their thoroughfare. 
 
 This device, although giving temporai-y relief, was 
 not likely to free the house from the rats altogether. 
 The experiment was, therefore, followed up by a 
 rigorous inspection of every place suspected to be 
 haunted by a rat. The drains were examined, their 
 ends carefully haired, all cracks stopped with cement, 
 until the rats were forced to own themselves mastered, 
 and to abandon the premises as untenable. Mr. 
 Waterton's hatred of the noisy animals is by no 
 means surprising to those who have experienced the 
 same annoyance. No one who has not been pestered 
 with these plagues can have any idea of the extra- 
 ordinary noises they will make. I have a most vivid 
 recollection of many sleepless hours during my 
 younger days, occasioned solely by the gambols of 
 rats overhead. My room was separated from the rest 
 of the house by a small flight of three stairs, and was 
 the highest room in the house, there being no garrets, 
 and the roof being used as a lumber-room. Night 
 after night there came over my head a heavy measured 
 step, passing regularly from one end of the room to 
 the other. This used to be continued for hours, 
 never changing, but always that slow uniform step, 
 passing and repassing, until I fell asleep. I was told 
 that the rats occasioned it. It may have been so, but 
 I have my doubts still. 
 
 Be this as it may, the rats used to make most un- 
 mistakable sounds. First there would be a rumbling 
 behind the panels, then a scuffling, then a squeaking, 
 and lastly a furious race terminated the proceedings 
 until they reassembled. 
 
 It is said that the best method of expelling rats, 
 without actually destroying them, is by mixing meal 
 with jalap, and placing it in their haunts. This the 
 rats eat, but it gives them such pains in their inte- 
 riors, that they never return to the spot from whence 
 their sufferings originated. Phosphorus mixed with
 
 RAT. 269 
 
 laVd is said to be an excellent poison, and to delay its 
 full effects until the rats have reached water, whither 
 the effects of the phosphorus causes them to repair as 
 soon as possible. The danger of their death in the 
 house is thus avoided. I have never tried either plan, 
 so cannot recommend them from experience. 
 
 The ferocity of the rat is sometimes very great, and 
 were its strength equal to its courage, it would soon 
 master those foes before whom it now flies. I was once 
 attacked in the most determined way by a rat that 
 had been taken in a box trap. The trap was one 
 hi tended for mice, and the rat being large in pro- 
 portion to the size of the trap, had left his tail hang- 
 ing out of the entrance where the door came down, 
 and as the door descended with a spring, the tail 
 remained fixed in the same position. Wishing to 
 transfer the animal to a cage in order to keep it, and 
 endeavour to tame it, I attached a piece of string to 
 its tail, and opened the door of the trap. The animal 
 was at first unwilling to come out, and had to be 
 startled out by a stick pushed between the bars. The 
 moment that it had left the cage, it sprang at my 
 hand, and as I raised it from the table to prevent it 
 from springing, it curled itself round, ran up the 
 string, and had just reached my hand, when a blow 
 from a pair of iron forceps that were lying by, laid it 
 senseless on the table. 
 
 The rat is a very prolific animal, and were not its 
 number kept down by many foes, it would soon over- 
 run the land. The enormous increase in their num- 
 bers, where only a few have gained admission into a 
 house or cornstack, shows the necessity for such foes. 
 Of these the stoat family is the worst, as from their 
 little slender body and short legs, they are able to 
 penetrate every passage which the rat has made, and 
 to destroy it in its own fastnesses. The ratcatchers 
 turn this power to their advantage, by using the ferret 
 for the purpose of assisting them in their occupation 
 The ferret^is first muzzled (in days happily gone by,
 
 270 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 its mouth was sewn up), or it would never return to 
 its master, but would take possession of the barn or 
 stack, and live on the rats. The greater number of 
 the holes are then stopped, the trained dogs are set 
 to watch the others, and the spectators being armed 
 with sticks, the ferret is placed in one of the open 
 holes. Down it glides, and before long is heard a 
 scuffling and squeaking within the holes'. In a 
 minute or two numbers of rats and mice, great and 
 small, come leaping out of their holes, and are either 
 snapped up by the dogs, who have been taught to kill 
 them with a single rapid bite, or are knocked down 
 by the sticks of the human hunters. 
 
 The dogs display great sagacity on these occasions. 
 They take the greatest delight in the sport, and watch 
 the holes with their ears perched forward, their eyes 
 sparkling, and their whole frame ready prepared for a 
 spring upon any rat who dare show his nose outside 
 the hole. To one ratcatcher belonged a dog who used 
 to lame the rats by a blow from his paw as they sprang 
 from the hole. He was once standing on the watch, 
 with his paw ready lifted for a blow, when a rustling 
 was heard, a head presented itself, and down came 
 his paw. He, however, arrested the blow before it 
 could do any harm, for the head belonged to the 
 ferret, who had reached the mouth of the hole in pur- 
 suit of its prey. 
 
 These same ferrets are rather dangerous animals 
 to handle, as they cannot really be rendered suffi- 
 ciently tame to be trusted. I once saw a ferret, a 
 beautiful white one with pink eyes, which had become, 
 as its master boasted, quite tame, and would run 
 about his person, and caress his face. One evening, 
 as he was exhibiting the animal, and showing how it 
 would kiss him, the ferret seized both his lips between 
 its teeth, and bit them quite through, making four 
 cuts as clean as if done with a knife. It was never 
 allowed to kiss its master again. 
 
 The following description of rat-catching, without
 
 DOOS WATCHINO FOB RATS. 
 
 p. 270.
 
 RAT. 271 
 
 traps, is extracted from Bichardson's " Pests of the 
 Farm." The ingenious method of turning the tails of 
 the rats into instruments of their own destruction is 
 very amusing : 
 
 " Mr. John Eussel, an extensive bacon merchant 
 in Limerick, who kills between forty and fifty thou- 
 sand pigs in a season, has adopted the following suc- 
 cessful method of destroying the rats which abound 
 on his premises. He has erected a quadrangular 
 stone building, eleven feet long and seven feet wide, 
 with a wall three feet high, having flags laid flat upon 
 the top, but projecting a little over the inside of the 
 wall. All round the wall inside, at the base, are 
 numerous holes, like pigeon-holes, which do not go 
 quite through, except a few to allow a free passage 
 to the little animals. Outside the barrack is a plen- 
 tiful supply of water and food, such as bones and 
 useless offal. The interior of the walls is occupied 
 by boards, lumber, and straw, just such concealment 
 as these animals are known to prefer, and the whole 
 is covered by a movable wooden roof. When it is 
 judged proper to destroy the vermin, the passages are 
 stopped at the outside, the roof is lifted off, and the 
 boards are taken out. The frightened animals run 
 up the wall, but their escape is impossible, for they 
 strike against the projecting flags, and fall back again. 
 They then run into the small holes below, but these 
 are only just large enough to admit their bodies, whilst 
 the tails remain sticking out, a secure prize to the men, 
 who go in over the wall, and by this unlucky appendage 
 they suddenly drag them out, and fling them to a posse 
 of anxious dogs outside the fortress, or into a barrel 
 of water, where they are soon destroyed. As there are 
 not holes enough in the wall inside, the noise and 
 uproar soon frightens another division of rats into the 
 vacated openings, and these being treated in the same 
 unceremonious manner, the whole garrison is thus 
 speedily destroyed. As many as seven or eight hundred 
 have been killed at one clearing. Eats being fond of
 
 272 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 straw, they become very numerous in the lofts where 
 the article is kept, to be used for singeing bacon, and 
 they cut it into short pieces with their teeth, which 
 makes it useless for this purpose. The proprietor 
 tried the effect of putting a pet fox to mount guard 
 on the lofts, and it was found that he killed such 
 quantities of the rats, that three or four were procured 
 to garrison the place instead of one. When we 
 visited this extraordinary establishment some time 
 ago, the additional foxes had not been procured, but 
 we saw the first, which was looking fat, contented, 
 and happy with 'its new occupation." 
 
 Among other qualifications of the rat we must 
 mention its proficiency in the art of swimming. 
 Even a stream of considerable width is insufficient to 
 restrain their ravages. The Zoological Gardens in 
 the Kegent's Park are, as is well known, surrounded 
 by a canal. Over this there pass nightly myriads of 
 rats, who search among the dens, &c., to look after 
 food of any kind that may have been left by the 
 animals. The rats are too crafty to remain in the 
 gardens all day, so they cross over at night, and 
 before daybreak return to their usual haunts. 
 
 This conduct is sufficiently clever, but it is equalled, 
 if not surpassed, by the ingenuity exhibited by a tribe 
 of rats who had fixed their residence near the kennel 
 where a pack of hounds resided. The food for the dogs 
 was poured into long narrow troughs, and the rats, 
 finding this out, were accustomed to sally out and 
 coolly partake of dinner with the dogs, who, trained to 
 thechase of foxes, disdained such insignificant animals. 
 Insignificant as they were in point of size, they were 
 by no means so in point of numbers, and they de- 
 voured so much of the dinner that ought to have gone 
 to the dogs, that the keeper determined to extirpate 
 the marauders. He, therefore, bored a hole in the 
 wall at each end of each trough, and placed a heavily- 
 loaded gun in the aperture, so as completely to rake 
 each trough with the shot. He then, at the usual
 
 MOUSE. 273 
 
 dinner hour, stationed assistants at the different guns, 
 and after carefully locking up the dogs in their dor- 
 mitories, gave the accustomed call, poured the food 
 into the troughs, retired from the kennel, and deter- 
 mined to wait until the rats, having all the food to 
 themselves, should have filled the trough, in order 
 that he might almost exterminate them with a single 
 discharge. 
 
 So he waited very patiently, but not a rat made its 
 appearance. After leaving the food for an hour or 
 so without finding any rats, he released the dogs, who 
 immediately ran to their dinner. Scarcely had they 
 fairly begun, than the rats also made their appearance, 
 and as if conscious that they were guarded by the 
 dogs, resumed their usual places at the feeding 
 trough, and made their dinner in safety. 
 
 MOUSE.* 
 
 MANY people, who have a great objection to a rat, 
 rather admire a mouse, and overlook its depredations 
 for the sake of its elegant form, its graceful move- 
 ment, and its timid curiosity its curiosity leading it 
 to come out of its hole and examine every object in 
 the room, and its timidity causing it to dart off at the 
 slightest movement. 
 
 Mice can be easily tamed, particularly if taken 
 when young, but they can also be taught to approach 
 with confidence, and to gambol about the room with- 
 out running off to their holes. I have had several 
 tame mice, one of which used to sit on my hand, and 
 permit me to cany it about so seated, or it would hide 
 itself under a fold of my coat, or creep up the sleeve 
 for the sake of the warmth. In general, brown mice 
 are easier to tame than their white relations. I have 
 seen a common short-tailed field-mouse come to the 
 bars of its cage, and take a grain of wheat from the 
 finger. The best way to tame them, is to inflict a 
 forced fast of a day or so, arid then to feed them from 
 * M us inusculus.
 
 274 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 the hand, always taking care to accompany the opera- 
 tion with the sound intended to be the call. They 
 will soon learn to connect the sound and the food, 
 and will come to the side of their cage the moment 
 that they hear it. So if any one wishes to possess 
 tame mice, I would recommend him to save himself 
 the expense of purchasing white mice, which are also 
 more difficult to preserve in health than the brown 
 mice, and to try his hand on a few common brown 
 mice, only a few 'weeks old. 
 
 But whatever description of mice is kept, the 
 greatest care should be taken to have the cage 
 thoroughly clean. The most effectual mode of so 
 doing, is to have a double set of cage bottoms, so that 
 one set can be in use, while the other set is getting dry 
 after washing. It is also necessary to be careful of 
 the substances used as bedding. White cotton wool 
 is, perhaps, the best substance that can be used for 
 that purpose; but black cotton wool, or black wad- 
 ding as it is generally called, should be scrupulously 
 avoided. I once lost a whole cage of newly-tamed 
 mice, by supplying them with black wadding. It 
 was placed in their cage at night, and by the next 
 morning all the mice were dead. 
 
 With proper care, however, mice may be easily 
 reared, and converted into amusing little pets. But 
 however amusing they may be as pets, in most other 
 respects mice are provoking little creatures. They 
 contrive to make a lodgment in almost every con- 
 ceivable place, frequently choosing localities which 
 would be thought most unlikely. An organ does not 
 appear a very promising residence for these animals, 
 yet every one who has busied himself about organs is 
 fully acquainted with the mischief done to the instru- 
 ment by the colonies of mice who seem to be drawn 
 to it by some strange attraction. They frequently 
 scramble to the mouths of the pipes, fall in, and are 
 never able to get out again. On cleaning an organ, 
 it is seldom that most of the large metal open pipes
 
 MOUSE. 275 
 
 are not tenanted by sundry skeletons of mice, bats, 
 ancf even small birds, which do not seem to be able to 
 use their wings in that confined space, and perish 
 miserably. Mice always appear to have a strange 
 penchant for musical instruments. There was a 
 certain closet, one of the shelves of which had long 
 been devoted to filberts. In another part of the 
 closet an old disused harmonicon had been placed, 
 and been forgotten. On turning out the contents of 
 the closet, with a view to a thorough sweeping, the 
 harmonicon was discovered, apparently in the same 
 state in which it had been placed there, even the 
 hammers retaining their original position. The 
 glasses, however, when struck, gave forth a singularly 
 dull sound, and, on moving the instrument about, a 
 strange rattling sound was heard in the interior. On 
 removing the glasses, the instrument was found to be 
 entirely filled with the husks and shells of the filberts, 
 the kernels having been scooped out as neatly as 
 could be done even by an accomplished squirrel. It 
 is difficult to imagine the object for which all these 
 shells were deposited in so singular a place, as mice 
 always make their nests of very soft materials, such 
 as rags, or scraps of paper, and are far too observant 
 of their own comfort to make their beds of sharp, 
 hard nutshells. 
 
 The number of traps invented for the purpose of 
 taking mice is beyond the power of statistics to give. 
 There are ingenious boards placed on shelves, which 
 tilt the mouse into a basin of water below, where it 
 swims about for many minutes, and at last sinks 
 through sheer exhaustion. Straggling for life and 
 fighting for breath to the last moment of its little life, 
 it continues its vain efforts even while slowly sink- 
 ing below the surface. This is generally applauded 
 as a merciful trap. Then there is a spring trap, that 
 drives a steel spike through the mouse's brain, causing 
 instantaneous death. This is generally stigmatised 
 (especially by ladies) as a cruel trap. There is an-
 
 276 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 other ' merciful' trap, the box trap, that shuts it in 
 without hurting it, and affords it a piece of cheese 
 to eat, and a view from between the bars until it is 
 shaken out of the trap and carried off by the cat, 
 who picks it up and takes it to her kittens, who 
 practise upon it; the art of mouse-catching and tor- 
 menting, which they hope soon to begin on their 
 own account. There is the garotte trap, which 
 strangles the mouse, and the arithmetical 4 trap, 
 which mashes it flat. But there is still extant an 
 account of a trap that, from the elaborate description, 
 must be a most valuable one, and which the describer 
 has wisely prevented from being too common, by 
 enveloping his account in such a mist of impene- 
 trable language, that no one whom I have met has 
 been able to form the least idea of the description of 
 trap intended what may be its form, how the mouse 
 is to be caught, or what catches it. 
 
 In sheer despair, I present the account to my 
 readers, together with a hope, that one of them 
 may be able to make a trap by means of the descrip- 
 tion, and that, if so, he will kindly forward to me a 
 sketch. 
 
 " And again he telleth of another manner of catch- 
 ing of mice, which is as great as the first, and it is 
 after this manner : Take two smooth boards about 
 the lenth of thy arm, and in breadth half thy arm, 
 but joyn it so together, that they may be distant from 
 the lower part in lenth some four fingers, or little 
 less, with two small spindles or clefts, which must be 
 at every end one, and fasten paper under them, and 
 put a piece of paste therein, being cut overthwart in 
 the middle, but you must not fasten it nigh the 
 middle, and let it be so bound, that it may easily be 
 lifted up betwixt the spindles, that if by slipping it 
 should be altered, it might be brought again to the 
 same form. But the two spindles spoken of before, 
 ought to be joyned together in the ends above, and 
 beyond them another small spindle to be made, which
 
 MOUSE/ 277 
 
 may 'hold in the middle a crooked wedge or butten, 
 upon the which may be hanged a piece of hog-skin, 
 so that one of them may be easily turned upside down 
 with the skin, and put thou thereunto a little piece of 
 earth or stick, that the mice may easily come to it : 
 So that how many mice soever shall come thereto, 
 and to the meat, shall be taken, always by rouling the 
 paper into his wonted place." 
 
 The fecundity of the mouse is as great as that of 
 the rat, for it breeds at all times of the year, and fre- 
 quently produces three families in the course of one 
 year, each family numbering from four to six. In a 
 fortnight the young are able to obtain their own 
 living, and in a few weeks more, become parents 
 themselves. An experiment on the fecundity of this 
 animal was made so long ago as the time of Aristotle. 
 He placed in a closed box well stored with grain one 
 female mouse who was about to become a mother, 
 and kept the box closed for some time. When the 
 box was opened, he found an hundred and twenty 
 mice, all sprung from one parent. 
 
 If any one wishes to repeat the experiment, he must 
 be very careful about a plentiful supply of food, or his 
 mice may come to the same untimely end that befel a 
 company of mice whom a boy had put in a box and 
 forgotten for some time. When he remembered his 
 neglect, he hastened to open his box, and found there 
 only one great mouse, sitting in solitary misery 
 among the relics of his companions, of whom he was 
 the sole survivor, hunger having compelled them to 
 kill and eat one another. 
 
 It is not so easy to clear a house of mice as many 
 people imagine, particularly if traps are used as the 
 means of destruction. Many will be caught when the 
 traps are first set, but the numbers fall off, and at last 
 cease altogether, when the householder flatters himself 
 that the mice are all gone. But the fact is that the 
 little creatures have learned caution, and have only
 
 278 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 avoided entering the trap, while they still continue 
 their depredations. They not only take warning from 
 seeing their fellows caught, but if one that has been 
 captured has been suffered to make its escape, the 
 trap may as well be removed, for no more mice will be 
 caught. After a month or two, it may again be used 
 with success. 
 
 During my residence in college, the mice had been 
 a fertile source of annoyance. They nibbled my 
 candles in two, so that they would not stand upright ; 
 they drank my milk ; they pattered with their little 
 feet over my butter; they raced about between the 
 papered canvas and the stone wall, until the wall was 
 riddled with holes made by a toasting-fork thrust 
 through the paper, in the vain hope of spearing them ; 
 they would run across my carpet in the most undis- 
 guised manner, until I determined to extirpate them. 
 So I got a double trap, baited it very temptingly, and 
 placed it in the closet. Scarcely had the door been 
 closed, when two smart blows told of the capture of 
 two mice. They were speedily immolated, and the 
 trap again set. During the first two or three days, 
 the trap was constantly going off, until I was tired of 
 going and taking out the mice. The others, however, 
 took warning, and came more and more sparingly, 
 until it was a rare thing to catch one young mouse in 
 a day, and after a week or so, none were caught at all, 
 although the trap was baited with most savoury 
 toasted cheese, and my candles suffered as before. I 
 then bethought me of changing the bait, so, after 
 suffering the trap to be well aired, and the scent of 
 the cheese to evaporate, I substituted a piece of tallow 
 with great success, for the mice came nearly as fast 
 as ever. When they had begun to dread the latter, a 
 piece of bacon was used as the bait, and by systema- 
 tically changing the bait, great numbers were caught. 
 At last, however, the mice seemed to comprehend that 
 the trap was in fault, and not the bait, and I had to
 
 MOUSE. 279 
 
 substitute a 4 trap, to which they again came in mul- 
 titudes, and as the descending weight was a very 
 large book, several often perished at once. 
 
 Mr. Smee relates an instance of the sagacity of the 
 mouse in refusing to be caught a second time : 
 
 " Many years ago, I caught a common mouse in a 
 trap, and, instead of consigning it to the usual watery 
 grave, or to the unmerciful claws of the cat, I deter- 
 mined to keep it a prisoner. After a short time, the 
 little mouse made its escape in a room attached to my 
 father's residence in the Bank of England. I did not 
 desire the presence of a wild mouse in the room, and, 
 therefore, adopted means to secure him. The room 
 was paved with stone, and inclosed with solid walls. 
 There was no hope for him that he would ultimately 
 escape, although there were abundant opportunities 
 for hiding. I set the trap and baited it with a savouiy 
 morsel ; but day after day no mouse entered. The 
 poor little thing gave unequivocal signs of extreme 
 hunger, by gnawing the bladder from some of my 
 chemical bottles. I gradually removed everything 
 from the room that he could possibly eat, but still the 
 old proverb of Once caught, twice -shy' so far ap- 
 plied, that he would not enter my trap. After many 
 days, on visiting the apartment one morning, the trap 
 was down, the mouse was caught ; the pangs of hunger 
 were more intolerable than the terror of imprison- 
 ment. He did not, however, will the unpleasant 
 alternative of entering the trap, until he was so nearly 
 starved that his bones almost protruded through his 
 skin ; and he freely took bits of food from my ringers 
 through the bars of the cage." 
 
 I once made an experiment on a mouse of rather 
 a singular description. At that time Galvanism had 
 become rather a fashionable study among the mem- 
 bers of the University ; and numerous were the ex-, 
 periments that were tried, from firing gunpowder under 
 water, to knocking down a scout with an electric shock. 
 I happened to have an excellent home-made battery,
 
 S30 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 only a small single-cell one, but one which would 
 cause an electro-magnet to sustain a weight of forty 
 pounds, and, when connected with a coil, would give 
 a tolerably severe shock. A mouse happened to be 
 caught, and the wires were thrust into the trap, as 
 much in jest as in earnest. The mouse, seeing the 
 wires, and, being enraged at its incarceration, dashed 
 at them, and happened to place its feet upon one 
 at the moment that it seized the other in its mouth. 
 I thought that it seemed singularly indifferent to the 
 battery, and withdrew the wire on finding that no 
 effect had been produced. The mouse, however, re- 
 mained in exactly the same position ; and, upon a 
 close examination, proved to be quite dead. On 
 opening the trap and inclining it, the mouse slid out 
 as if it had been carved in wood. All its limbs were 
 rigidly stiff, and its neck stretched out in exactly the 
 same position in which it had bitten at the wire. It 
 is impossible to imagine any death more sudden than 
 this must have been ; for it was so instantaneous, that 
 no perceptible sign appeared to mark the moment 
 when the life left the body. 
 
 The proverb is well known that speaks of rats 
 deserting a falling house. Topsell gives a circumstan- 
 tial account of such a proceeding in the following 
 lines : 
 
 " It is also very certain that mice which live in a 
 house, if they perceive by the age of it, it be ready 
 to fall down, or subject to any other ruin, they fore- 
 know it, and depart out of it, as may appear by this 
 notable story, which happened in a town called 
 Helice, in Greece, wherein the inhabitants committed 
 this abominable act against their neighbours the 
 Greeks. For they slew them, and sacrificed them 
 upon their altars. Whereupon followed the ruine of 
 the city, which was premonstrated by this prodigious 
 event. For five days before the destruction thereof, 
 all the mice, weesils, and serpents, and other reptile 
 creatures, went out of the same in the presence of
 
 MOUSE. 281 
 
 the 1 inhabitants, every one assembling to his own 
 rank and company ; whereat the people wondered 
 much, for they could not conceive any true cause of 
 their departure, and no marvail. For God which 
 had appointed to take vengeance on them for their 
 wickedness, did not give them so much knowledge, 
 nor make them so wise as the beasts, to avoid his 
 judgement and their own destruction ; and, therefore, 
 mark what followed. For these beasts were no 
 sooner out of the city, but suddenly in the night- 
 time came such a lamentable earthquake and strong 
 tempest, that all the houses did not only fall down, 
 and not one of them stood upright, to the slaughter 
 of men, women, and children contained in them, but 
 lest any of them should escape the strokes of the 
 timber and housetops, God sent also such a great 
 floud of waters, by reason of the tempestuous winde, 
 which drove the waters out of the sea upon the town, 
 that swept them all away, leaving no more behind 
 than naked and bare significations of former build- 
 ings. And not only the city and citizens perished, 
 but also there was ten ships of the Lacedemonians, 
 in their port, all drowned at that instant." 
 
 In another part of his voluminous work, he enu- 
 merates some of the qualities of " Y e vulgar little 
 mouse," among which he numbers its capability of 
 domestication, and gives the following account of a 
 very tame mouse. 
 
 "Albertus writeth, that he saw in Upper Germany 
 a mouse hold a burning candle in her feet, at the 
 commandment of her master, all the time his guests 
 were at supper." 
 
 Most people have heard of the famous "singing 
 mouse," whose musical performances attracted so 
 much attention some years ago. Many sceptical 
 individuals classed the animal with the " whistling 
 oyster," and undisguisedly expressed their incredulity. 
 However, the little animal certainly did produce mu- 
 sical sounds, although they did not, as was asserted,
 
 282 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 rival the notes of the canary and nightingale, either 
 in volume, strength, or sweetness. 
 
 The field-mice* are extremely injurious when 
 they exist in great numbers, as they are very partial to 
 the young shoots of various plants, and by nibbling 
 them off, prevent the plant from attaining its full 
 growth. They are very difficult to find, as they hide 
 themselves so carefully, that, even in fields where 
 they swarm, it is by no means an easy matter to 
 catch a sight of them. There is a meadow in Wilt- 
 shire, where, by carefully watching almost any square 
 yard of grass, a short-tailed field-mouse is nearly sure 
 to be found. Yet that field had been used for 
 cricket, hockey, football, and many other games, for 
 a long time before any one discerned a single 
 mouse. If a field-mouse is caught and put down on 
 the grass of even a newly-mown field, it glides so 
 neatly under the grass, pressing close to the ground, 
 and scarcely permitting the slightest motion of a 
 single blade to betray its pressure, that if the eye is 
 taken off for a moment, it is almost impossible to 
 catch sight of it again. 
 
 But concealed as the mice are from human eye, the 
 vision of the owl or kestrel soon detects them. Woe 
 to the unfortunate field-mouse that dare show its 
 nose above ground if a kestrel is hovering about ; for 
 down comes the sharp-eyed bird, and flies away with 
 the mouse in its talons. At night, too, the large 
 eyes of the owl soon descry its movements, and the 
 soft-plumed bird, floating over with its noiseless 
 flight, strikes its talons into the unsuspecting mouse, 
 and either swallows it whole on the spot, or carries it 
 off to its nest, where the young owls are expecting 
 their parent. Indeed, were it not for the exertions 
 of the hawks and owls, who pounce on them from 
 above, and the weasels and stoats, who chase them 
 on the ground, we might fare little better than Bishop 
 Hatto, whose tragical story is related by various 
 Arvicola arvalis.
 
 MOUSE. 283 
 
 authors, and among these, by Coryat, in his " Crudi- 
 ties." 
 
 " Here followeth the history of HATTO, Archbishop 
 of Mentz. It happened in the year 914, that there 
 was an exceeding great famine in Germany, at what 
 time Otho, sumamed the Great, was emperor, and 
 one Hatto, an abbot of Fulda, was Archbishop of 
 Mentz, of the Bishops after Crescens and Crescentius, 
 the two and thirtieth, of the Archbishops after Saint 
 Bonifacius the thirteenth. This Hatto in* the time 
 of this great famine aforementioned, when he saw 
 the poor people of the country exceedingly oppressed 
 with famine, assembled a great company of them into 
 a barn, and like a most accursed and mercilesse caitiffe, 
 burnt up those poor innocent souls, that were so far 
 from doubting any such matter, that they rather hoped 
 to receive some comfort and relief at his hands. 
 
 " The reason that moved the prelate to commit 
 that execrable impiety was, because he thought the 
 famine would the sooner cease, if those unprofitable 
 beggars that consumed more bread than they were 
 worthy to eat, were dispatched out of this world. 
 For he said that these poor folks were like to mice, 
 that were good for nothing but to devour corne. But 
 God Almighty, the just avenger of the poor folks' 
 quarrell, did not long suffer this hainous tyranny, 
 this most detestable fact, unpunished. For he mus- 
 tered up an army of mice against the archbishop, 
 and sent them to persecute him as his furious Alas- 
 tors, so that they afflicted him both day and night, and 
 would not suffer him to take his rest in any place. 
 Whereupon, the prelat, thinking that he should be 
 secure from the injury of mice, if he were in a 
 certain tower that standeth in the Khine, near to the 
 towne, betook himself unto the said tower as safe 
 refuge and sanctuary from his enemies, and locked 
 himself in. But the innumerable troopes of mice 
 chased him continually very eagerly, and swamrne 
 unto him upon the top of the water, to execute the
 
 284 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 just judgement of God; and so at last he was most 
 miserably devoured by those sillie creatures, who 
 pursued him with such bitter hostility, that it is re- 
 corded they scraped and knawed out his very name 
 from the walls and tapestry wherein it was written, after 
 they had so cruelly devoured his body. Wherefore the 
 tower wherein he was eaten up by the mice is shown to 
 this day for a perpetual monument to all succeeding 
 ages of the barbarous and inhuman tyranny of this 
 impious prelate, being situate in a little green island, 
 in the midst of the Rhine, near to the towne of Win- 
 gen, and is commonly called in the German tongue, 
 the MOWSE-TUKN."* 
 
 An enterprising traveller, who, with two compa- 
 nions, succeeded in taking a two-oar boat over several 
 of the German rivers, remarks, that the breed of 
 mice must have been of a most superior kind, for 
 their boat could with difficulty make the passage. 
 
 If any 6f my readers should wish to keep tame 
 mice, I would recommend as large a cage as possible, 
 with plenty of bars and perches, on which the mice 
 love to climb. The wheel-cages should be always 
 eschewed. The mice, if taken young, can be trained 
 to perform several feats, such as drawing carriages, 
 and other similar performances. I have already men- 
 tioned the extreme care that is required in preserving 
 their cage in a state of the most perfect cleanliness. 
 If this is not done, there are hardly any animals so 
 offensive. As for feeding, anything will do, from oats 
 to ortolans, only white mice should not be permitted to 
 eat cheese, as it is very injurious to them. 
 
 BEAVER.t 
 
 WE will now take our leave of the mice, and pro- 
 ceed to the Beavers, almost the largest of all the 
 Rodentia. The Capybara is, indeed, the largest of the 
 Rodentia in point of size, but is not near so interest- 
 
 * " Mause-Thurm." The Mouse Tower, 
 f Castor fiber.
 
 BEAVER. 285 
 
 in* an animal as the Beavers, who may be considered 
 the chief of that division, both from the excellence of 
 that characteristic from which the Eodentia take their 
 name, and from the very perfect manner in which 
 they make use of those tools with which they are 
 supplied. 
 
 I have before mentioned the peculiar construction 
 of the four incisor teeth of the gnawing animals, and 
 the manner in which they preserve their edge, by a 
 slight coating of hard enamel upon a comparatively soft 
 substance. In the tooth of the beaver, the enamel 
 is of an orange colour, something like that of an old 
 squirrel, and is so hard that the American Indians 
 were accustomed to fix beaver teeth in wooden 
 handles, and use them as chisels, wherewith to carve 
 their bone and horn weapons, until the use of iron 
 superseded these primitive tools. 
 
 Such being the power of the beaver's tooth in the 
 hands of men, it may well be imagined .that when 
 such instruments as these are used by their original 
 possessor, they produce no small effect. And so it 
 is, for the beavers can cut through a tree ten inches 
 in diameter, without much difficulty. They sit on 
 their haunches when they set to work at a tree, and 
 by gnawing round it, the tree is gradually cut 
 through, one side being always cut deeper than the 
 other in order to insure its fall in the right direction ; 
 when the tree is thus felled, the stump is left of a 
 conical form. 
 
 Their houses and dams are built of a mixed mass 
 of wood, stones, and mud ; the stones and mud being 
 always carried under the chin, and the sticks shaped 
 by the teeth. It has been the custom to say, that 
 in the construction of their houses, the beavers drive 
 piles into the ground, and then entwine sticks 
 between the piles. This, however, is not correct ; 
 neither is it true that beavers first finish building 
 their houses, and then plaster them over with mud, 
 the fact being that they build their houses of a mixed
 
 286 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 mass of mud, wood, and stones, the sticks being laid 
 transversely, and the mud and stones worked in at 
 the same time. After the houses are finished, they 
 give them an extra coat of mud in the autumn, which, 
 freezing hard when the winter comes on, forms a 
 secure defence against the Wolverene, or Glutton, an 
 animal that is particularly fond of beavers. The same 
 operation is repeated every year, so that at last the 
 walls, and especially the roof of the huts, become ex- 
 ceedingly strong, being sometimes nearly six or seven 
 feet in thickness. 
 
 The so-called apartments in a beaver's hut are, in 
 fact, separate houses, having no communication with 
 each other, except by water. There are often several 
 families under one roof, and, except in a very few 
 instances, there is no means of communication be- 
 tween them, unless the beavers first dive under 
 water. 
 
 The dams are constructed in order to gain such a 
 depth of water, that the ice may not entirely dry up 
 their little lakes, and are generally built across small 
 creeks. Where, however, the water is tolerably deep, 
 the beavers build no dams, but spend their energies 
 in constructing their houses. 
 
 The form of the dam differs according to the form 
 of the stream. If the current runs strongly, the 
 dam is made of a curved form, its convexity towards 
 the stream, so that the fall of water forms a kind of 
 miniature resemblance to the Horseshoe fall of 
 Niagara. But when the stream is but slight, the 
 curve of the dam is proportionately lessened, and the 
 beavers thereby save much time and labour. When 
 it happens that a colony of beavers continue their 
 labours for a course of years, without being exter- 
 minated by the ruthless hunters, the dam becomes 
 a large edifice from frequent repairs ; a bank forms 
 on it, from the debris swept down by the stream, and 
 arrested by the edge of the dam. Seeds of birch and 
 other trees fall on the bank, take root, and spring up,
 
 BEAVER. 287 
 
 until at last the dam becomes a permanent bank 
 covered with vegetation, and often decorated with 
 willows, poplars, and birch-trees, among whose 
 branches the birds build their nests. 
 
 The food of the beaver is vegetable, and consists 
 mostly of the bark of trees, which their chisel-shaped 
 teeth enables them to slice off with great ease ; shoots 
 also, and small twigs, form no small portion of their 
 diet, but, perhaps, the greater portion of their subsist- 
 ence is derived from a kind of water-lily which grows 
 at the bottom of the rivers, and after which they dive. 
 This is their winter diet, but in the summer they 
 vary their repasts by feeding on the green herbage, 
 and the berries of various plants. 
 
 The object for which the beavers are hunted is 
 well known, but the fur of the animal is not of so 
 much importance as it was some years ago. In 1808, 
 no less than 126,937 beaver skins were imported into 
 England from Quebec alone, while in 1827, the entire 
 nnmber imported was little more than 50,000. The 
 reason of the decrease is twofold. First, because the 
 hunters, with the usual improvidence of partially- 
 civilised men, destroyed every beaver they could find, 
 taking no care to leave enough to keep up the sup- 
 ply ; and secondly, because silk and other materials 
 have almost superseded beaver in the construction of 
 those cylindrical abominations popularly denominated 
 "hats." 
 
 The value of each skin is about eighteen or nine- 
 teen shillings, and the manner in which the fur is 
 prepared for making hats is very interesting, but 
 would take too much space to describe ; I will there- 
 fore merely mention that the fur is shaved from the 
 skin by a very sharp knife made for the express 
 purpose. The fur is of two kinds, long stiff hair and 
 soft wool. The wool is the only part used in hat- 
 making, and is separated from the hair by the action 
 of wind, which blows it along a tube, and deposits 
 the light fur at one end, while the hair is left
 
 288 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 stationary at the other. It is, in fact, a kind of win- 
 nowing, exercised on hair, instead of corn. The 
 wool thus separated is then fixed into the felt of the 
 hat while moist, by kneading them together, when the 
 peculiar form of the wool causes it to insinuate itself 
 into the substance of the felt, and to work its way so 
 firmly that it cannot be again drawn out. Indeed if 
 the kneading process is continued, the beaver-fur will 
 work its way completely through the felt, and appear 
 on the other side. Such used to be the method of hat- 
 making in former times, so that when a gentleman 
 thought that his hat was getting shabby, he sent it to 
 the hatter, who turned it inside out, and brought a 
 completely fresh surface to the exterior. 
 
 The beavers are either taken in traps, or by storm- 
 ing their houses in winter. The method in which 
 the latter mode of hunting is conducted is as 
 follows. The mere storming their houses would be 
 a simple matter enough, but the beavers have a 
 number of holes in the banks into which they retreat 
 when their houses are injured, or when they are 
 alarmed. The chief business is, therefore, to find 
 out these hiding places, and as the water is covered 
 with thick and hard ice, it is no easy matter to dis- 
 cover them. This part of the proceeding is always 
 taken by the old hunters, who by means of knocking 
 the ice with an ice-chisel fastened to a staff, discover 
 by the sound the entrance of the holes below. As 
 each man finds a hole, he sticks the branch of a tree 
 over it, as a sign that it is his property. He then 
 cuts a hole in the ice, and waits his opportunity. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the inferior hunters and the 
 women set to work at the huts themselves, which they 
 break open with some labour ; for six or seven feet of 
 frozen mud and stones is rather a formidable barrier. 
 The beavers, finding their fortress assailed, abandon 
 it, and take refuge in their holes, from whence 
 they are immediately dragged by the expectant hunter. 
 The poor creatures are sure to be taken, for they can-
 
 BEAVER. 289 
 
 not* remain under water for any length of time, and 
 they only have the choice of three evils, either to stay 
 under the ice and get drowned, or to stay in their 
 houses and get killed by the women, or to run away 
 to their holes and get killed by the men. 
 
 As an example of the manners of the Beaver, I 
 will here give Mr. Broderip's account of a tame beaver 
 in his possession. The reader will not fail to remark 
 how completely the manners of this animal prove that 
 it is instinct and not reason that governs it in all the 
 extraordinary works which it achieves. 
 
 " It was the sole survivor of five or six which were 
 shipped at the same time, and it was in a very pitiable 
 condition. Good treatment quickly restored it to 
 health, and kindness soon made it familiar. When 
 called by its name ' Binney,' it generally answered 
 with a little cry, and came to the owner. The hearth- 
 rug was its favourite haunt, and thereon it would lie 
 stretched out, sometimes on its back, sometimes on its 
 side, and sometimes on its belly, but always near its 
 master. The building instinct showed itself im- 
 mediately it was let out of its cage, and materials were 
 placed in its way, and this before it had been in its 
 new quarters a week. Its strength, even before it 
 was half grown, was great. It would drag along a 
 large sweeping brush, or a warming-pan, grasping the 
 handle with its teeth so that the head came over its 
 shoulder, and advancing in an oblique direction till it 
 arrived at the point where it wished to place it. The 
 long and large materials were always taken first, and 
 two of the largest were generally laid crosswise, with 
 one of the ends of each touching the wall, and the 
 other sides projecting out into the room. The area 
 formed by the cross brushes and the wall he would 
 fill up with hand-brushes, rush-baskets, books, boots, 
 sheets, clothes, dried turf, or anything portable. As 
 the work grew high, he supported himself on his tail, 
 which propped him up admirably, and he would often, 
 after laying more of his building materials, sit up over 
 
 u
 
 ^90 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 against it, appearing to consider his work, or as the 
 country people say, 'judge it.' This pause was some- 
 times followed by changing the portion of the material 
 'judged,' and sometimes it was left in its place. After 
 he had piled up his materials in one part of the room 
 (for he chose the same place), he proceeded to wall up 
 the space between the feet of the chest of drawers, 
 which stood at a little distance from it, high enough 
 on its legs to make the bottom a roof for him, using 
 for this purpose dried turf and sticks, which he laid 
 very even, and filling up the interstices with bits of 
 coal, hay, cloth, or anything he could pick up. This 
 last place he seemed to appropriate for his dwelling, 
 the former works seemed to be intended for a dam. 
 When he had filled up the space between the feet of 
 the chest of drawers, he proceeded to cany in sticks, 
 hay, cotton, and to make a nest; and when he had 
 done he would sit up under the drawers, and comb 
 himself with the nails of his hind feet. In this opera- 
 tion, that which appearefl to be a mal-formation was 
 shown to be a beautiful adaptation to the necessities 
 of the animal. The huge webbed hard feet of the 
 beaver turn in so as to give the appearance of defor- 
 mity ; but if the toes were straight instead of being 
 incurved, the animal could not use them for the pur- 
 pose of keeping its fur in order, and cleaning it from 
 dirt and moisture. Binney generally carried small 
 and light articles between his right fore-leg and his 
 chin, walking on the other three legs ; and large 
 masses which he could not grasp readily with his 
 teeth, he pushed forward, leaning against them with 
 his right fore-paw and chin. He never carried any- 
 thing on his tail which he liked to dip in water ; but 
 he was not fond of plunging in the whole of his body. 
 If his tail was kept moist he never cared to drink ; 
 but if it was kept dry it became hot, and the animal 
 appeared distressed, and would drink a great deal. It 
 is not impossible that the tail may have the power of 
 absorbing water, like the skin of frogs, though it must
 
 HARE. 291 
 
 be owned that the scaly integument which entrusts that 
 member has not much of the character which generally 
 belongs to absorbing surfaces. 
 
 " Bread and milk and sugar formed the principal 
 part of Binney's food, but he was very fond of succu- 
 lent fruits and roots. He was a most entertaining 
 creature, and some highly comic scenes occurred 
 between the worthy but slow beaver, and a light and 
 airy macauco that was kept in the same apartment." 
 
 HAKE.* 
 
 WE now come to two animals singularly alike in 
 external appearance, but widely different in habits 
 the one being fossorial, the other a resident of the 
 green fields. These two animals are the hare and the 
 rabbit. Their resemblance is so great that it does not 
 require the conventional ignorance of a cockney to con- 
 fuse the two animals. I have heard a boy at a country 
 school define a hare as " a little animal what lives in 
 holes." The poor boy had evidently derived his know- 
 ledge of hares from two sources the one from seeing 
 it in connection with currant jelly and made gravy, the 
 other from his spelling-book, which in its list of " words 
 of similar sound, but different import," gives the follow- 
 ing 
 
 c " HAIR ... on the head. 
 \ HARE ... in the fields." 
 
 The misled juvenile accordingly made use of the 
 latter piece of information, and having seen certain 
 holes in the fields, conjectured that the hares lived 
 therein. 
 
 However, there is not much difficulty in the matter, 
 as the black tips to the ears of the hare are so con- 
 spicuous, as to distinguish it at once from the rabbit. 
 This characteristic would not have been found useful 
 in determining the species of a hare mentioned by 
 * Lepus timidus. 
 
 r 2
 
 292 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 Jenyns. The animal was shot, and was discovered to 
 be entirely without ears. It did not appear to have 
 lost them by accident, but to have been born without 
 them, as not only were the ears themselves wanting, 
 but there was no orifice in the skin. 
 
 It is well known that the poachers usually capture 
 these animals by means of snares, cunningly con- 
 trived wire nooses placed across their paths, into 
 which the hares run, and are quickly strangled, as 
 they plunge about and struggle violently on feeling 
 the pressure of the wire round their necks. One 
 instance is known where the animal was caught by 
 the middle of the body, and by the vehemence of its 
 struggles succeeded in breaking the wire from the peg 
 to which it was fastened. Some time after its escape, 
 it was shot, and presented a most extraordinary ap- 
 pearance, looking, as the man who shot it asserted, 
 as if it had worn stays. Its waist was still bound 
 with the wire, which had contracted its body until it 
 presented quite the appearance of an hour-glass. 
 
 My purpose is not to speak of the hare further than 
 to mention the method of distinguishing it from the 
 rabbit, to which animal we will now pass. 
 
 RABBIT* 
 
 THERE is, perhaps, hardly any animal, the dog ex- 
 cepted, which is so altered by domestication as the 
 rabbit. No one would recognise the common brown 
 rabbit to be the same animal as its domesticated rela- 
 tion, whose long ears sweep the ground as it walks, 
 whose fur becomes long and silky, whose colour 
 varies through all shades from black to white, whose 
 back has risen in an arch, whose legs are become 
 bandy, and whose throat has developed into a huge 
 dewlap, as large as three hens' eggs. 
 
 Yet there is no doubt that they are. the same species, 
 for, if no other reason were wanting, the lop-eared 
 * Lepus cuniculus.
 
 BABBIT. 293 
 
 rabbits are always returning to the state and colour of 
 their savage forefathers. Indeed, out of every brood 
 produced by a pair of thorough-bred lop ears, half 
 are seen to carry their ears upright, and it is very rare 
 to secure more than one or two really fine animals out 
 of, a dozen. 
 
 Yes, it is even so. The brown little vagabonds that 
 scamper about the mouths of their burrows, owning 
 no law but their own pleasure, tumbling over head 
 and heels in sheer exuberance of delight, nibbling 
 the herbage, or sitting up on their hind legs to attain 
 a wider prospect, scuttling back to their holes at the 
 slightest panic, and now popping their impertinent 
 little heads out of their burrows, and playing with 
 fresh energy when satisfied that the coast is clear; 
 these animals, purchasable at the rate of sixpence a- 
 piece in the market, are the progenitors of your never- 
 sufficiently-to-be-praised prize " Lop," that magnificent 
 animal, rejoicing in bandy legs, monstrous ears, 
 humped back, dewlapped throat, butterfly smut, and 
 all the other deformities that constitute beauty ac- 
 cording to rabbit fanciers; whose deportment is grave 
 and solemn, as befits so aristocratical an animal, and 
 for whom you have refused fifty guineas. 
 
 Now, for my part, I don't admire monsters. I infi- 
 nitely prefer an unsophisticated, unfashionable warren 
 rabbit to the finest specimen of " oar," " horn," or 
 " full " lop that ever issued from a fancier's cage. Of 
 course I have had lop-eared rabbits every one has 
 and they were really first rate animals, but they never 
 interested us nearly so much as a colony of the com- 
 mon rabbit, which we kept at the same time. By 
 " we " I mean the juvenile portion of the family, who 
 had a disused stable given them for the use of the 
 rabbits. 
 
 We began with three, and in a very short time the 
 3 took an after it, but could never be changed into 
 4. It was a singular fact that although we repeatedly 
 had thirty-nine rabbits at one time, we never could
 
 294 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 reach forty. (A short time ago, I found that William 
 Howitt had experienced precisely the same disappoint- 
 ment.) Not that there was any want of rabbits, but 
 that forty were never in the stable at once, some being 
 cooked, some dead, and some stolen. As to the latter 
 part of the business, we met with rather an adventure. 
 
 We had been told that cats were the delinquents 
 a very reasonable suggestion, as the stable stood in a 
 garden where cats swarmed at night, and we there- 
 fore determined to take summary vengeance on the first 
 cat that entered the stable. We had been lately read- 
 ing an account of the first French Kevolution, and 
 had been greatly impressed with the description of 
 the guillotine. A self-acting guillotine was conse- 
 quently determined on as the best method of punish- 
 ing the thief. So we carefully closed every entrance 
 to the stable, merely leaving a hole in the window 
 shutter, about six inches square. Above this we sus- 
 pended a bill-hook, to the back of which was attached 
 a brick and some pieces of iron, the hook being re- 
 tained in its place by a slender stick that crossed the 
 aperture. When the stick was moved, the bill-hook 
 descended with great force, forming an arc of a circle, 
 passing over the square aperture. On the whole it 
 was not a bad piece of workmanship for three children, 
 the eldest being ten years of age. The trap was ac- 
 cordingly set, and we retired for the night,- in great 
 expectation of discovering next morning a decapitated 
 cat outside the window, and a detruncated head within. 
 
 Morning came, and we remained long in anxious 
 expectation of the permission to rise. This given, 
 we scampered off as fast as possible to the stable, 
 where we found the trap down, several drops of blood, 
 but no cat. On entering the stable, appearances Avere 
 more mysterious, for the bill-hook was covered with 
 blood, and a considerable amount of blood had run 
 down the wall, but still no cat. However, the rabbits 
 were all safe, and the cats never stole any more. The 
 only circumstance that seemed. to explain the mystery
 
 RABBIT. 295 
 
 was, that a lad who had taken some pains about our 
 rabbits, and who used to advise us as to the best 
 method of fastening the stable at night, wore his arm 
 in a sling for several weeks afterwards. 
 
 The rabbits themselves were well worth our care. 
 I can easily understand how a shepherd knows every 
 sheep by name, and is acquainted with the peculiar 
 disposition of every member of the flock. We knew 
 all our rabbits, and could distinguish any one by name 
 at some distance. Our nomenclature was certainly 
 limited, and strongly resembled Dandie Dinmont's. 
 There was the big blue, the middle blue, and the little 
 blue blue meaning that slaty kind of tint which is 
 so often seen in domesticated warren rabbits these 
 were derived from their comparative size when named, 
 although the " little blue," soon became equal to the 
 " big blue " in that respect. Then some received their 
 name from that of the parent, such as ' Snowdrop's 
 brownie." There were also a few miscellaneous names, 
 such as " Charlie," in honour of the rocking-horse, at 
 that time reduced to the state of the famous Trojan 
 horse, and going on wheels, which the rabbit was sup- 
 posed to resemble in colour. But pre-eminent over 
 all, was a lovely little rabbit, unanimously called 
 "Beauty." 
 
 This pretty creature was always tame. It would 
 come when called, and take parsley from our hands, 
 so that we used to let it run about the grass-plot, or 
 give it an occasional grazing among the carrot-tops. 
 AVe used to carry it about in our arms and use it like 
 a baby (I mean of course, as we should have used a 
 baby), giving it milk to drink, and all kinds of things 
 to eat. I rather fancy that we gave it too many things 
 to eat, for it died at the age of four months. Our 
 grief was exceeding at our loss, and we consoled our- 
 selves by celebrating its obsequies in the most sump- 
 tuous manner possible. We put all its family into 
 mourning by tying a black collar round the neck of 
 each ; we built a. vault with brickbats and tiles ; we
 
 *J6 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 made a coffin out of an old hat-box ; we buried the 
 poor rabbit with great pomp, and put up a monument, 
 on which was inscribed a truer epitaph than is usually 
 seen, emblazoned in gold, and engraved on a marble 
 tablet upheld by four sentimental cherubims, each 
 with a substantial pear-shaped tear on its inner cheek. 
 
 The rain soon washed away the inscription; the 
 wooden monument fell to decay ; but we have not 
 forgotten our buried pet. The house has long since 
 passed into other hands ; the rabbit stable is desecrated 
 by horses ; the grass-plot is gravelled ; but Beauty's 
 bones lie still in their vault under the apple-tree in 
 the garden. 
 
 It is the fashion to say that only the regular domes- 
 ticated rabbits can be tamed ; but the preceding nar- 
 rative proves that such is not the case. Moreover, 
 there is no reason why the wild hare, an animal cer- 
 tainly as timid, should be capable of being tamed, 
 and rabbits should not. In further corroboration I 
 cite an interesting account sent by a lady to Mr. 
 Jesse. 
 
 " One evening last spring my dog barked at some- 
 thing behind a flower-pot that stood in the door-porch. 
 I thought a toad was there, but it proved to be a very 
 young rabbit, a wild one. The poor thing was in a 
 state of great exhaustion as if it had been chased, and 
 had been a long while without food. It was quiet in 
 the hand, and allowed a little warm milk to be put 
 into its mouth. Upon being wrapped in flannel and 
 placed in a basket by the fire, it soon went to sleep. 
 When it awoke, more milk was offered in a small 
 spoon, which this time was siicked with right good 
 will : and the little creature continued to take the milk 
 in this way for several days, until strong enough to 
 help itself out of a cup. It appeared to become tame 
 immediately, soon learnt its name, and I never saw a 
 happier or merrier little pet. Its gambols on the car- 
 pet were full of fun. When tired with play, it would 
 feed on the green food, and nice bits placed there for
 
 RABBIT. 297 
 
 it, and when satisfied, it used to climb up the skirt of 
 the dress, nestle in the lap or under the arm, and go 
 to sleep. If this indulgence could not be permitted, 
 then Bunny (as we called it) would spring into my 
 work-basket, and take a nap there. At midday it liked 
 to sit in the sun on the window seat, then it would 
 clean its fur and long ears, each being separately 
 drawn down, and held by one foot while brushed by 
 the other. This duty performed, it would stretch at 
 full length, and basking in the sun-beams, fall asleep. 
 Strange to tell, all this was going on with the dog in 
 the room, who had been made to understand that the 
 rabbit was not to be touched ; stranger still, the rabbit 
 ceased to show any fear of the dog, but, on the con- 
 trary, delighted in jumping on the dog's back, and 
 running after his tail. These liberties, however, were 
 not pleasing to Jewel; they were evidently only en- 
 dured in obedience to the commands of his mistress. 
 Not approving of one favourite being made happy at 
 the other's expense, I was obliged to interfere on these 
 occasions, and call Bunny to order. 
 
 " Being frequently told that a wild rabbit could not 
 be so thoroughly domesticated, but that it would re- 
 turn to the woods if it regained its liberty, I feared 
 that if mine got loose it would certainly run away. 
 Yet I wished it should be sometimes in the garden to 
 feed upon such green food as it liked best ; for this 
 purpose I fastened it with a collar and small chain, 
 and, thus secured, led it about. One evening the chain 
 unfortunately broke, and Bunny was free ! At first 
 we saw it running from place to place with wild de- 
 light, but after a little while we could not see it, and 
 we hunted in vain under the shrubs, calling it by name 
 until it became dark ; we then ceased to search any 
 longer, and I concluded my pretty pet was gone. 
 
 " Before retiring for the night, I gave a last look 
 out of the window, in the hope I might chance to see 
 it once more. The moon was then shining brightly, 
 and I distinctly saw my little rabbit sitting at the door
 
 298 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 with head and ears erect, as if listening for its friends 
 within, anxious, perhaps, for its accustomed nice sup- 
 per, and soft warm bed. I hastened down stairs to 
 let it in, calling it by name, when, the moment I 
 opened the door, a strange cat darted forward, seized 
 it by the neck, and bore it screaming away! Of 
 course every effort of mine was useless to overtake the 
 cat. 
 
 " I feel convinced that this fond little creature would 
 not have left us, to return to the wood. That it did 
 not come when called was the effect of excessive joy 
 for its newly-found freedom, which must have been 
 doubly delightful while we were near, as no doubt it 
 saw us when we could not see it, and was only quietly 
 feeding when we thought it was gone away. 
 
 " Four months must have been the extent of poor 
 Bunny's short life." 
 
 I mentioned before the probability that our pet rab- 
 bit died on account of the strange food that we gave 
 to it. This was no solitary instance, as all our rab- 
 bits were subjected to much the same treatment, under 
 much the same circumstances that induced Sterne to 
 give a macaroni to a donkey, namely, out of curiosity 
 to see whether they would eat the unaccustomed food. 
 Certainly it was of a most miscellaneous nature, tallow 
 candles, toffy, Albert-rock, and other such substances. 
 However, the rabbits rather liked the tallow candles 
 than otherwise, and were really fond of toffy. But the 
 toffy was not very easy to eat, for the long incisor teeth 
 of the rabbits stuck firmly hi the saccharine compound, 
 and could not be released until the toffy had dissolved 
 in the ordinary course of things. The rabbits used 
 to undergo great struggles, in endeavouring to free 
 their imprisoned teeth, and shook their heads about 
 just as a terrier shakes a rat. 
 
 Well would it be did rabbits confine their perverted 
 appetites to such harmless things as Albert-rock and 
 tallow candles. I must, however, state with regret that 
 they not unfrequently eat their own offspring. This
 
 RABBIT. 299 
 
 strange habit they possess in common with several 
 other animals mice among the number. The rea- 
 sons for so doing are not very evident ; but the fact is 
 well known. It is a comparatively common event 
 for the father to devour his offspring, but that the 
 mother should do so appears a perversion of the 
 animal instinct for which we cannot account. Some- 
 times a mother rabbit seems to be driven to the act by 
 the pangs of hunger, if she is left without food for 
 several days, but the usual cause appears to be the 
 disturbance occasioned if her young are inspected too 
 early. It is always dangerous to examine the young 
 of a tame rabbit, until they are brought forward by 
 their mother; as, if disturbed, she is very likely to eat 
 them, and if she has once done so, she will probably 
 repeat the offence without any provocation. 
 
 In connection with this custom, a curious circum- 
 stance occurred in my rabbitry. The mother of a very 
 young family was displeased at the curiosity evinced 
 by several children respecting her little ones, who were 
 very comfortably lying in the day-room. She there- 
 fore carried them off one by one into the bed-chamber, 
 picking them up in her teeth. One unfortunate little 
 creature was seized by one of its ears, and, in the 
 struggle between its parent and itself, the ear was 
 fairly pulled off. The mother took the misfortune 
 very philosophically ; she ate the severed ear, and then 
 seizing her child by the ear that remained, dragged it 
 into the bedchamber with the rest. 
 
 It is possible to keep several mothers together with 
 their families in one large room, but the bucks must 
 be kept separate both from the does and from each 
 other. They are most quarrelsome animals, and are 
 liable to sudden attacks of fury, without any apparent 
 cause. When so enraged, they squeak and stamp 
 with their feet in as threatening a manner as they can 
 assume. When this anger is exercised towards man, 
 as not unfrequently happens, it has a very ludicrous 
 aspect, strongly reminding one of a puddle in a storm.
 
 300 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 But to the companions of the rabbit it is no laughing 
 matter, for the animal attacks any rabbit that comes 
 near. The usual method of attack is by leaping over 
 the object of dislike, and giving it a violent kick as 
 they pass over its back ; in this manner they often 
 strike off pieces of fur with a single blow. I once 
 saw a combat between a large buck rabbit and a cat, 
 in which the rabbit came off victorious ; the cat was 
 completely puzzled, and after a few rounds, and losing 
 no small amount of fur, left the rabbit conqueror 
 of the field. She would boldly have resisted a dog 
 who attacked her in front, but this method of jump- 
 ing over her back, and inflicting a severe blow during 
 the leap was too much for her. 
 
 That stamp of the foot is also used for other pur- 
 poses besides that of attack; it serves as a mode of 
 communicating alarm. If a number of rabbits are 
 feeding quietly, and one of them takes flight, it 
 stamps violently on the ground, and all the others 
 scuttle into their holes. 
 
 I lately heard of a rabbit that inhabited a house in 
 one of the back streets of Oxford. It especially favoured 
 the shop, because greens and vegetables were sold 
 there. The little animal was accustomed to discharge 
 the part of a house-dog, and would run after and bite 
 any intruder. Men rather laughed at the rabbit, but 
 it was no laughing matter to the softer sex, whose 
 unprotected ankles suffered wofully. 
 
 Much more might be said on the subject of rabbits, 
 but as many more animals still remain to be illus- 
 trated, we must pass over them and turn to another 
 group of animals. 
 
 OXEN. 
 
 IT needs but a glance at this group to distinguish 
 them from any of those that have been already de- 
 scribed. Perhaps the point that shows itself more 
 obviously than any other is the character of the skin
 
 THE RABBIT AND CAT. 
 
 p. 300.
 
 OXEX. 301 
 
 the dermal characteristics, as we should say if we 
 wished to speak learnedly. All the animals contained 
 in this group have very thick skins, and are therefore 
 called " Pachydermata," a word which means literally 
 "thick skins." The oxen, elephants, horses, deer, 
 and such like animals, are all Pachydermata. In 
 short, under that name are ranged all those ani- 
 mals whose skins are called "hides." The beasts of 
 prey, the rodents, &c., are covered with " fur," while 
 we must call the covering of the monkey tribes 
 " skins." 
 
 I am afraid that if we ask under what name to 
 place our own skins, they must be placed under the 
 denomination of " hides." At all events, human 
 skin tans beautifully in a primary and not in a 
 secondary sense There is in the museum of the 
 College of Surgeons in London, a piece of tanned 
 human skin, which might be imagined to have come 
 from the sole of a shoe. Moreover, we have heard of 
 the revengeful man, who covered his saddle with the 
 skin of a slain enemy a substitute for the "pig- 
 skin," which is supposed to form the covering of 
 saddles in general. There is no escape : we wear 
 hides. Now most persons will not believe this, and 
 will, perhaps, back their assertions by exhibiting a 
 particle of what they are pleased to call " skin " dis- 
 placed from an injured hand. But most people don't 
 know what their skins are. They chafe their hand 
 against a wall, and imagine that the silvei'-paper- 
 looking substance that they have rubbed off is their 
 skin. They would feel very uncomfortable were 
 their skin no thicker than the slight external cover- 
 ing which has been removed. The skin is, in fact, 
 very thick, the fingers being composed of little but 
 skin, tendon, and bone. 
 
 Having thus slightly glanced at the relative quali- 
 ties of "skin," "fur," and "hide," we will at once 
 proceed to one of the animals whose skin is a hide. 
 
 The first of these is the common ox.* 
 * Bos taurus.
 
 30"2 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 I am not going to intrude upon the provinces of 
 the spelling-books by enumerating the qualities of 
 the cow, nor upon that of agricultural works, by des- 
 canting on the difference between the terms, " bull," 
 " ox," " cow," " heifer," " quey," " beast," &c. Neither 
 shall I discuss the various merits of long or short horns, 
 Aldemey, Devonshire, Hereford, or other breeds; 
 but merely give examples of the character of the ox 
 tribe. 
 
 The character of the bull is anything but pleasing. 
 As a general fact, the whole of the bovine race are 
 deficient in intellect and capricious in temper. Even 
 the gentlest inhabitant of a farm-yard is apt to break 
 out into fits of ill-temper for no assignable cause, and 
 to kick or butt at those to whom she had been most 
 mild. This characteristic is developed stronger, as the 
 cow increases in years. 
 
 But, as may be expected from the usual cha- 
 racters of animals, the bull possesses more of the 
 disagreeable qualities than the cow, and fewer of 
 the amiable. Indeed, the bull is always rather a 
 dangerous animal to approach, as the fits of ill- tem- 
 per that sometimes possess the cow are exaggerated 
 in the bull into the most ungovernable gusts of fury, 
 during which the animal is perfectly blind to every 
 object except his enemy. It is rather fortunate that 
 the animal is thus blinded to external objects, as the 
 attacked party is often able to escape by suddenly 
 shifting to one side, and permitting the infuriated 
 animal to pass by. It is said, that if a bull displays 
 an inclination to charge, the best method is to get to 
 a tree, if possible, or to any such obstacle, and then 
 to stand before it, facing the bull. The animal will 
 close its eyes, drop its head, and charge. By slip- 
 ping on one side, the shock of the animal will be 
 avoided, and, moreover, it Avill come with such vio- 
 lence against the tree, as to stun it for a short time, 
 during which the person assaulted can make his 
 escape good. Not very long since, a gentleman con- 
 trived to reach a park wall at a considerable distance,
 
 OXEN. 303 
 
 by irritating the bull until it charged. He then 
 leaped aside, and before the animal could check its 
 headlong course, had gained some ground. The bull 
 then made another charge, and was received in the 
 same manner. By thus pursuing a zig-zag kind of 
 course, the gentleman led the bull on until he 
 reached the park wall. On placing his back against 
 the wall, the bull, maddened with its former futile 
 attempts, charged with double vehemence, and dashed 
 its head with such vehemence against the wall, that 
 it lay prostrate at the feet of its intended victim. 
 
 It is, however, pleasing to find that even the savage 
 nature of a bull is susceptible of some better feel- 
 ings, as will be seen in the following anecdote, ex- 
 tracted from a work by Mr. Egan. 
 
 " Mr. Benson, a gentleman whose veracity may be 
 depended upon, informed us, that he was spending a 
 month, a few years since, at the house of a farmer in 
 the north of England, who had a bull so wild and 
 ferocious that he was kept constantly chained, except 
 when led to water, &c., at which he was never suffered 
 to be out of the hands of a trusty person. This 
 animal seemed to have conceived a particular anti- 
 pathy towards Mr. Benson, who being young and 
 daring, had probably at some time irritated him. He 
 never saw him approach the open shed in which he 
 was kept, without being heard to bellow most dread- 
 fully, which he continued when the object of dislike 
 was in view, at the same time tearing up the earth 
 with his horns, and giving every symptom of the 
 utmost aversion. On two occasions, while leading to 
 water, he very cunningly watched an opportunity, 
 and endeavoured to make a sudden spring out of the 
 hands of his attendant, at Mr. Benson, who was 
 standing in the yard. But during the time Mr. 
 Benson sojourned at the house of the farmer, a most 
 tremendous storm of thunder and lightning occurred ; 
 and though Mr. Benson has often been in tropical 
 storms, he declares, for about ten minutes, he never 
 witnessed anything more awful. The lightning re-
 
 304 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 sembled sheets of fire, and each flash was instantly 
 succeeded by a thunder-clap, as loud as if a volley of 
 ten thousand of cannon had been discharged. But 
 what most affected him was the piteous roarings of 
 the poor bull, which, exposed in its open shed to all 
 the fury of the elements, sent forth every instant a 
 yell of terror beyond description hideous. Imagining 
 that it was the lightning that caused alarm to the 
 animal, Mr. Benson proposed to the men-servants 
 to remove it to the barn ; but in vain. They were 
 one praying in one corner, and another in another, as 
 much terrified as the bull, whose roarings made no 
 impression on them. He then said, " Well, then, I 
 will go myself; the poor creature will be tame enough 
 now." He accordingly put on his coat, and went 
 into the yard. The moment he approached the bull, 
 which was lying on its back, and had almost torn its 
 chain through the gristle of its nose in its efforts to 
 get loose, it rose, and by its fawning actions expressed 
 how delighted it was at the sight of anything human 
 amidst such a scene of horror. Like Roderick Dhu's 
 bull, in the " Lady of the Lake." when it had been 
 pricked on some scores of miles by the lances of a 
 troop of Highland foragers, its ferocity was gone, and 
 with the utmost quietness it suffered my friend to un- 
 tie it and lead it into the bam. 
 
 " The next morning, on crossing the farm-yard, 
 Mr. Benson remarked that his friend, who had re- 
 gained his shed, no longer saluted him with his ac- 
 customed bellow. He thought that the animal might 
 remember his last night's kindness. He accordingly 
 ventured by degrees to approach it, and found that now, 
 so far from showing any ill-will towards him, it, with the 
 utmost gentleness, suffered him to scratch its head ; 
 and from that day became to him as tame as a lamb, 
 suffering him to play all kinds of tricks with it, 
 which no person about the farm durst venture to at- 
 tempt, and even seeming to take pleasure in being 
 noticed by him. 
 
 The colour of scarlet irritates a bull in an extra-
 
 OXEX. 305 
 
 ordinary manner, and' is certain to provoke an attack. 
 Whether a bull would attack a regiment of soldiers, I 
 do not know ; but should rather imagine that it would 
 not, as the simultaneous movements of a body of men 
 cast cattle into the most abject state of terror. This I 
 can state from actual experience. During the six months 
 that I commanded a drill on a small scale, the ma- 
 noeuvres were carried on in a field of no veiy great 
 dimensions, so small, indeed, that the whole com- 
 pany once disappeared into a ditch, because the luck- 
 less commander called out " front," instead of " rear." 
 In this field were placed several cows, after the drill 
 had been going on for some time. When the squad 
 began to march, the cows congregated in an angle of 
 the field, and apparently determined to make a rush 
 through the line that was steadily approaching them. 
 When they neared the lyne, they changed their minds, 
 and dashed round the flanks with every mark of fear. 
 The opportunity was too tempting to be resisted, so 
 the pace was changed from " slow" to " double," and 
 the unfortunate cows were chased all over the field, 
 the squad continually extending, contracting, wheel- 
 ing, and turning, so as to cut them off from every 
 hope of escape. The poor animals displayed scarcely 
 less fear than did a company of rustics who had 
 crowded into the field to see the performances, and 
 upon whom we suddenly came with fixed bayonets. 
 I never saw three cows so active before, or so large 
 a number of human beings get over a stile in so short 
 a time. Yet, be it confessed, if a bull had been 
 among the cows, we should have been very shy of 
 charging him, in spite of our bayonets. 
 
 It sometimes, however, happens, that the bull em- 
 ploys this combative quality in an useful manner. A 
 herd of buffalo bulls have been known to destroy a 
 tiger that had sprung upon their master ; and there is 
 an account extant of the valour displayed by a bull in 
 defence of his wife. A jaguar had killed a cow, but 
 not without great resistance from the bull, who, as his
 
 306 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 horns had been blunted in consequence of his ferocity, 
 had suffered severely in the contest, and had not been 
 able to prevent the jaguar from killing the cow. The 
 owners of the slaughtered animal, knowing that the 
 jaguar would be certain to return to his prey, plastered 
 up the bull's wounds, re-sharpened his horns, and 
 suffered him to go at liberty. 
 
 As had been expected, the jaguar came next night 
 to feast on the body of the cow. The bull found it 
 engaged in its repast, and attacked it with such fury, 
 that it was found next morning lying dead by the side 
 of the cow, its body having been completely transfixed 
 by the bull's horns. Again and again did the bull 
 return to his prostrate enemy, even though he had 
 again received some severe wounds. The double 
 combat had so heightened his ferocity, that his owners 
 were again forced to blunt his horns. 
 
 A more extraordinary combat is related by Mr. 
 Palliser, between a bison bull, and a thorough bred 
 domestic bull of one of the long-horned breeds. The 
 combat, as he tells us, must have been quite Homeric. 
 
 " About three months previous to my arrival in Fort 
 Union, and in the height of the buffalo-breeding sea- 
 son, when their bulls are sometimes very fierce, Joe was 
 taking the Fort Union bull with a cart into a point of 
 the river, above the fort, in order to draw home a load 
 of wood which had been previously cut and piled 
 ready for transportation the day before, when a very 
 large old bison bull stood right in the cart-track, 
 pawing up the earth and roaring, ready to dispute the 
 passage with him. On a nearer approach, instead of 
 flying at the sight of the man that accompanied the 
 cart, the bison made a headlong charge. Joe had 
 hardly time to remove his bull's headstall, and escape 
 up a tree, being utterly unable to assist his four-footed 
 friend, whom he left to'his own resources. Bison and 
 bull, now in mortal combat, met midway with a shock 
 that made the earth tremble. Our previously docile, 
 gentle animal suddenly became transformed into a
 
 OXEX, 307 
 
 furious beast, springing from side to side, whirling 
 round as the buffalo attempted to take him in the 
 flank, alternately upsetting and righting the cart again ; 
 which he banged from side to side, and whirled round 
 as if it had been a band-box. Joe, safe out of harm's 
 way, looked down from the tree at his champion's 
 proceedings, at first deploring the apparent disadvan- 
 tage he laboured under from being harnessed to a 
 cart ; but when the fight had lasted long and furious, 
 and it was evident that one or the other must fall, his 
 eyes were opened to the value of the protection 
 afforded by the harness, and especially by the thick 
 strong shafts of the cart against the short horns of 
 the bison, who, although he bore him over and over 
 again down on his haunches, could not wound him 
 sevei-ely. On the other hand, the long sharp horns 
 of the brave Fort Union bull began to tell on the 
 furrowed sides of his antagonist, until the final charge 
 brought the bison, with a furious bound, dead under 
 our hero's feet, whose long fine-drawn horn was deep 
 driven into his adversary's heart. With a cheer that 
 made the woods ring again, down clambered Joe, and 
 while triumphantly caressing, also carefully examined 
 his chivalrous companion, who, although bruised, 
 blown, and covered with foam, had escaped uninjured. 
 It required all Joe's nigger eloquence to persuade the 
 bull to leave the slain antagonist, over whom he long 
 stood watching, evidently expecting him to get up 
 again to renew the combat ; Joe all the while coaxing 
 him with ' Him dear bull, him go home now, and do 
 no more work to-day,' which prospect ' black Joe, ' in 
 common with all his sable brethren, considered as the 
 acme of sublunary felicity." 
 
 The noble animal, who performed this feat, met 
 with an untimely end. He was one day seen to walk 
 across the river, and make his way to the Fort. He 
 then sank bleeding on the ground, and expired at the 
 foot of the flag-staff. He had been shot by a couple 
 of rascally Sioux Indians, who with their arrows had 
 
 x 2
 
 308 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 also severely wounded nearly half of the milch cows, 
 and had actually killed several of them. 
 
 I have already recorded the sugar and sweetmeat 
 eating propensities of some rabbits, and must now 
 record a similar perversion of taste on the part of a 
 bull. The animal in question contrived to get at 
 one of the pans into which maple sugar is poured 
 to cool, and began to help himself to the contents. 
 The sugar had just been poured into the pans in a 
 boiling state, so that the imfortunate animal had rea- 
 son to repent of his gluttony. On discovering his 
 mistake, he set off at full speed, with his tail in the 
 air, and with a considerable amount of the scalding 
 stuff adhering to his nose. 
 
 When cows are young, they are often very tame and 
 gentle. There were two cows to whom I was much 
 attached, having known them from their birth. Their 
 names were " Star" and ' Primrose." They were ex- 
 ceedingly fond of the mangel-wurzel, and probably 
 based their attachment to me on the grounds of my 
 ability to procure for them the expected dainty. They 
 were even troublesome in their affection, for it was 
 impossible to walk through the yard without having 
 them capering behind, and occasionally butting with 
 their heads in order to claim attention. On one occa- 
 sion they kept me prisoner for some little time. 
 There was a very narrow shed, at the extremity of 
 which was a pile of mangel-wurzels. I had gone in 
 one day, in order to procure some of the roots for the 
 cows, when the place became suddenly darkened. 
 The cause of the sudden eclipse was the appearance 
 of the two cows, who had come to the half door that 
 closed the shed, and were pressing against it, hoping 
 to obtain admission. They remained there, and ate 
 the slices of root that were given them, but did not 
 relax their pressure on the door, nor could they be 
 removed without a stratagem. 
 
 These two creatures were very tame, and would come 
 when called, suffer almost any liberty to be taken with
 
 OXEN. 309 
 
 them, even submitting to be used as couches if the 
 grass were not quite dry. They were very playful, 
 and used to get up sham fights, until one of them 
 knocked off one of her playfellow's horns. The horn 
 was replaced and bandaged, but it failed to unite, and 
 its place was taken by a new horn, very shapeless, and 
 very thick. The bleeding was quite alarming when 
 the accident took place. 
 
 These two animals gave me the first opportunity of 
 observing that strange etiquette which is so prevalent 
 among cows. With them, if a number of cows have 
 been brought up together, the eldest always takes the 
 lead, and indeed will not stir until she can do so. If 
 a new cow is introduced into a yard, she struggles 
 with the others until she finds her place. So tena- 
 cious are the cows of this their privilege, that a senior 
 cow has been known to refuse to enter the shed be- 
 cause the junior cows had gone in first, and actually 
 to wait until they were all turned out again. She then 
 walked in at the head of the procession in conscious 
 dignity. 
 
 The author of " Eothen " avers that in the East, to 
 be respected is not a mere title, but conveys with it a 
 clear right to take your neighbour's cattle, or fruit, or 
 milk, or any part of his property, his wife only ex 
 cepted. Such seems to be the case among cows. 
 The senior cow considers herself to have a right to 
 the best stall, the best fodder-rack, and the best place 
 everywhere. So she exercises her right. When the 
 cows are fed, she generally inspects the food of all the 
 cows, and if, as is generally the case, she sees one of 
 them with a better or larger share of food than her 
 own, she butts the rightful owner away, and takes pos- 
 session. 
 
 " Star " and " Primrose " were mere calves when 
 first placed among the cows, and were shamefully 
 treated by them. The weakest often literally went to 
 the wall, being shoved against it by an elder cow, who 
 wished to inspect the state of the fodder-rack. But
 
 810 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 as the calves grew older, their dignity increased, and 
 they seemed to be impressed with the same notions 
 as a small fag at a public school who submits 
 patiently to his present ill treatment, fully intending 
 to make up for it when he is a big boy and has a fag 
 of his own. In two years these calves were the 
 seniors of the yard, the others having been sold or 
 killed, and they in their turn bullied the younger cows, 
 pushed them about, and robbed their racks, precisely 
 as they had been bullied, pushed about, and robbed 
 themselves. 
 
 It did not seem possible that anything could add to 
 their dignity, but it was even so. One of them was 
 a mother, and became twice as proud. She nearly 
 killed her calf by poking at it with her nose and turn- 
 ing it over. She watched anxiously for every one who 
 entered the yard, and was uneasy until they had paid 
 her a visit and admired her baby. Her behaviour 
 when she and her little one went out was very amusing. 
 She could not bear any one to pass her calf without 
 caressing it, but at the same time, her maternal fears 
 were so great, that she was continually interposing 
 herself, and pressing away the very person whom she 
 had endeavoured to attract. 
 
 I conclude this account of the domestic cow with 
 two extracts from Topsell, wherein he teaches us the 
 benefit to be expected from the bull's hide, and also 
 some of the medicinal properties of the same animal. 
 
 " Out of the hides of buls, especially their ears and 
 necks, is most excellent glew confected, but for the 
 most part is corrupted by seething with it old leather 
 of shooes or boots ; but that of Ehorles is, without all 
 fraud, fit for physitians and painters, and evermore the 
 whiter the better, for that which is black is good for 
 nothing; wherefore that which is made out of bulls' 
 hides is so white that it sendeth forth a brightness, 
 whose vertuous conjunction in conglutination is so 
 powerful, that it is easier to break a whole piece of 
 wood than any part so glewed together therewith ; and
 
 BISON. 311 
 
 for 'this invention we are (saith Pliny) "indebted to 
 Daedalus, the first author thereof. They used it in in- 
 struments' of musick and such other tender and pretious 
 actions." 
 
 He then gives us several recipes for complaints, but 
 forgets to state whether he is practically acquainted with 
 them or not. " The fat of a Dormouse, of a Hen, and 
 the marrow of a bul melted together, and poured 
 warm into the ears, easeth their pain very much, and 
 if the liver of a bul be broyled on a soft fire, and put 
 into one's mouth that hath the tooth ach, the pain will 
 go away so soon as ever the teeth touch it. The gall 
 of a bull is sharper than an ox's, and it is mingled 
 with Hony for a wound-plaister, and in all outward 
 remidies against poyson. It hath also a quality to 
 gnaw the deadness or corruption out of Wounds, and 
 with the juyce of leeks and the milk of women, it is 
 applyed against the Swine-pox ; but the gall alone 
 rubbed upon the biting of an ape, cureth that 
 malady." 
 
 BISON.* 
 
 PASSING over the buffaloes, we come to an animal 
 that is often, but erroneously, spoken of as a buffalo, 
 the bison of North America. 
 
 The Americans appear to have a great propensity 
 for giving old-world names to new-world objects. The 
 bison, for example, is spoken of as a buffalo, and the 
 puma is called a panther. This propensity is further 
 exemplified by the names of their towns and lakes, 
 many of which have old-world names, but distinguished 
 by the prefix of the word " new." It is much to be 
 regretted that in so many cases they should have abo- 
 lished the really euphonious native name, and substi- 
 tuted some insignificant European word. This does 
 not apply to the names given by the " Yoyageurs," who 
 
 * Bison Americanus.
 
 312 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 continue to affix appellations to the various localities, 
 which are, at all events, appropriate, if not euphonious. 
 
 There is not much difficulty in distinguishing a 
 bison from an ox even at first sight, but if we were 
 placed before a skeleton of each we should doubtless 
 be perplexed ; just as, although it is easy enough to 
 tell a lion from a tiger when we see it, none but an ex- 
 pert anatomist can distinguish between the skeletons. 
 It does not, however, require any very deep anatomical 
 knowledge to distinguish between the skeleton of a 
 bison and an ox-, as the ox has but thirteen ribs on each 
 side, while the American bison has fifteen, the Euro- 
 pean bison, or auroch, possessing fourteen pairs of ribs. 
 
 The bison, by which name we only understand the 
 American species, is only found in the northern parts 
 of America, never appearing south of lat. 33. 
 
 The whole appearance of the animal is most sin- 
 gular, the bull bison being a perfectly unique animal. 
 Its shoulders and ' hump ' are covered with a profu- 
 sion of long hairs, something like a lion's mane, which 
 sometimes sweeps the ground. This mass of hair 
 and wool extends over the whole head, which is en- 
 veloped by it, in the same manner as we see the head 
 of a Skye terrier buried in hair. The animal is 
 further furnished with a thick black beard. In the 
 winter months the entire body is covered with thick 
 woolly hair : from this circumstance the skin is more 
 valuable when the animal is killed in winter, than if 
 the hide is taken in the summer, as in the hot months 
 a very large portion of the warm woolly covering dis- 
 appears. 
 
 The enormous mass of shaggy hair and mane gives 
 the animal a most ferocious appearance, which is by 
 no means borne out by its general character. Usually 
 the bison is a quiet and timid animal, and it is only 
 at certain times of the year, or when it is driven to 
 bay, that it is really dangerous. 
 
 The enormous size of the fore quarters of the 
 animal, gives its legs an appearance of being too
 
 BISON. 318 
 
 smafl for the body, an opinion which is the more 
 strengthened by the comparatively small size of its 
 hind legs, which are bent in a manner that strongly 
 reminds the spectator of the hya3na. Indeed a bison 
 is not at at all unlike a vaccine hyaena, if such an 
 animal can be imagined. 
 
 But these apparently weak legs can carry the huge 
 animal with perfect ease over places that horses dare 
 not attempt. In activity the bull is not equal to the 
 cow, her lighter body enabling her to surpass the. 
 bull in speed. 
 
 The flesh of the bison is remarkably good, and is 
 said to possess the agreeable quality of not surfeiting 
 those who indulge in it even to an unwarrantable ex- 
 tent. The fat is said by some to resemble that of turtle, 
 and the very finest ox beef that our tables can boast is 
 said to be unworthy of comparison with the "hump " 
 of the bison. Indeed, on one occasion, the experiment 
 was tried, and some excellent beef sent to table as a 
 great treat. But the guests soon left their beef, and 
 returned to their " hump." An Indian declared that 
 the beef was coarse and insipid, and that the fat 
 would make one sick. 
 
 Through the agency of Cooper's works, the delicious 
 properties of a bison's ' hump ' have become as well, 
 or perhaps better, known in England than the similar 
 qualities of venison and turtle. Now let us see how 
 the hunters procure this celebrated hump. When a 
 bison is killed, it is first raised from its prostrate 
 position and placed on its knees, as if lying down. A 
 longitudinal incision is then made from the part of 
 the hump neai'est the head, and continued backwards 
 to the loins ; a large piece of skin is then removed 
 from each side, and laid on the ground, the hairy side 
 next' the earth, and upon them the 'fleeces,' as they 
 are called, are laid, as they are taken from the animal. 
 The ' fleeces ' comprise all the flesh that lies at each 
 side of the vei-tical processes of the shoulder, and, if 
 taken from a full-grown animal, weigh about a him-
 
 314 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 dred pounds. So delicate is this part of the animal, 
 and so common are the bisons, that hundreds are 
 slaughtered, merely for the sake of their hump and 
 tongue, the remainder of the huge animal being left 
 to the wolves and birds. From the peculiar nature 
 of their pursuits, the hunters are singularly improvi- 
 dent, and seem to partake of the nature of the pre- 
 dacious beasts and birds, at ore time gorging them- 
 selves with the most delicate parts of their prey, while 
 at others, they are worn to the bone with famine and 
 privation, merely through their improvidence in neg- 
 lecting to cure some little part of the vast quantities 
 of good food left to fester in the desert. 
 
 An animal that possesses such qualities as these is 
 not likely to obtain much rest in the vicinity of man. 
 When we see men spending whole days in galloping 
 after a little red animal, of whom they frequently do 
 not even get a glimpse until the end of the hunt, and 
 possibly not then, it can hardly be expected that man 
 will not hunt an animal, which furnishes him with 
 provisions and warm clothing, and which not only 
 affords him a most exciting amusement, but which 
 may be hunted over hundreds of miles without an 
 apparition of a farmer mounting guard with a pitch- 
 fork over the gate of a corn-field, where trespassers 
 are warned that they will be " punished with the 
 utmost rigour of the law." 
 
 There are many methods of hunting this animal, 
 but that in most request is the chase on horseback. 
 This amusement requires good horsemanship, no 
 small amount of nerve, and a steady hand. The 
 weapon used by the white hunters is generally the 
 rifle, but the native Indians prefer the bow and arrow, 
 Avhich weapons they wield with astonishing skill. 
 They are not good at a long shot, but when mounted, 
 and armed with their favourite weapons, bow, arrow, 
 and spear, they are unmatched. The bow, used by 
 them for hunting purposes, is a weapon that looks 
 more like a child's toy than an instrument of de-
 
 BISON. 315 
 
 stracfron. It is barely a yard long, and very slight in 
 construction, deriving its power from the sinews of 
 animals, dexterously worked into its back. With one 
 of these bows an Indian has been known to send an 
 arrow completely through the body of a bison. With 
 such dexterity and rapidity are these weapons used, 
 that if white and red hunters go in the same chase, 
 the red men usually kill more game than the white. 
 But that the reason for this circumstance may be un- 
 derstood, we must first see how the bisons are hunted. 
 
 The animals generally live in great droves, or herds, 
 one herd often containing upwards of 15,000 indi- 
 viduals. The hunters contrive to separate the best 
 and fattest animals from the herd, and, having suc- 
 ceeded in getting alongside, inflict the fatal wound 
 just behind the shoulder. The horses are so well 
 trained to the work, that they will almost sponta- 
 neously place themselves on the animal's left side, and 
 sheer off directly the shot has been fired. It will 
 now be seen why the Indians prefer the bow and 
 arrow to the rifle, as an Indian will discharge half a 
 dozen arrows in the same time that would be occupied 
 in loading and firing a rifle once. 
 
 In order to overcome this difficulty, the huntsmen 
 now prefer the smooth bore gun, carrying balls of about 
 sixteen or twenty to the pound. Provided with this 
 weapon, the hunter can fire nearly as fast as the Indian 
 can shoot, and therefore has the advantage over him, 
 as a bullet always does more execution than an arrow. 
 There is no need of ramrod, patches, powder-flasks, 
 copper caps, bullet pouch, or any other impediment. 
 The powder is earned loose in the pockets, and a 
 quantity taken at a guess, and poured down the 
 barrel. The bullet is taken from the mouth, where a 
 stock of balls is always kept, in readiness, as milliners 
 keep their pins, and upholsterers their tacks, and 
 dropped wet into the barrel. The gun is furnished 
 with a self-priming flint lock, and needs no cap.
 
 316 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 The gun is not loaded until the moment before it is 
 discharged. The powder is poured in, the wet bullet 
 dropped upon the powder, the barrel lowered to 
 the charge, and the shot fired, the angle being calcu- 
 lated by the eye, and therefore the act of raising to 
 the shoulder being rendered unnecessary. The wet 
 state of the bullet prevents it from rolling out of the 
 gun during the short time that the barrel is lowered. 
 A very accurate aim is not requisite at such very close 
 quaiters, and the amount of powder is of no particular 
 consequence. 
 
 The Indians have various methods of killing the 
 bison. Sometimes they make a kind of a fold, and 
 drive a number of the beasts into it, where they can 
 be leisurely slaughtered. Sometimes they form a 
 semicircle round a herd, and by shouts and gestures 
 drive them all over a precipice, those behind forcing 
 forward those in front. But the greatest ingenuity is 
 shown by the solitary hunter, who, not unfrequently, 
 returns laden with the spoils of six or seven victims. 
 One very favourite method of attack is, by putting on 
 the skin of a bison calf. The hunter is thus enabled 
 to penetrate into the centre of a herd, and to pick out 
 the choicest animals, whom he soon lays low, as the 
 unsuspecting creatures hear no sound to terrify them, 
 and view their prostrate comrades with indifference. 
 Sometimes the hunter puts on the skin of a wolf, and 
 in that guise crawls near enough to plant his deadly 
 weapon in the heart of any animal that he chooses. 
 For the bisons, when in health, do not care for the 
 wolves, and permit them to walk among the herd 
 unmolested, knowing full well that the wolves will 
 not dare to attack them while they are in the enjoy- 
 ment of health and strength. Many a sickly or 
 wounded bison falls to the wolf's lot, but it never 
 ventures to show its teeth to a healthy animal, when 
 protected by the presence of its companions. 
 
 In all cases the hunter must beware lest he gives
 
 BISON. 3 I 7 
 
 the animal his wind, for the bison is veiy acute of 
 scent, and, on feeling the dreaded presence of man, 
 instantly makes off at the top of its speed. 
 
 The singularly heavy mass of hair, wool, and fur, 
 that covers the head and shoulders of the bull bison, 
 has already been mentioned, as well as the usefulness 
 of the thick fur in forming a winter cloak. But on 
 one occasion, this woolliness proved useful to the 
 hunter in jather an unexpected manner. Mr. Palliser 
 is the narrator of the following story. 
 
 " One beautiful, clear, cold morning in January, I 
 started to shoot some prairie fowl. 1 had not been 
 long out, when an Indian overtook me, and said in 
 Sioux, ' Ho, my friend ! I saw the track of your long 
 foot in the snow.' He wanted me to help him in 
 stalking up three buffalo bulls that were feeding in 
 some willows at a little distance. I accordingly 
 started off with him, and we came within about a 
 third of a mile from the spot. I went carefully 
 round to leeward, and directed the Indian to go and 
 give them his wind, by approaching on the other 
 side, so soon as he thought I had reached my in- 
 tended post, whither I knew they would make in 
 order to pass through to the open plain. So accu- 
 rately had the Indian calculated time and distance, 
 that I was hardly at my place, when a huge bull 
 thundered headlong by me, and received a shot low 
 and close behind the shoulders as he passed. He 
 stumbled on for about ten paces, and lay quietly 
 down. I waited to re-load ; and on going up, found 
 him stone-dead. The Indian then joined me, and 
 said that the other two bulls had not gone far, but 
 had taken different directions ; so we agreed that he 
 should pursue one and I the other. I soon came in 
 sight of mine. He was standing a little way off on 
 the open plain. But the skirting willows and brush- 
 wood afforded me cover within eighty yards of him, 
 profiting by which I crept up, and taking deliberate
 
 318 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 aim, fired. The bull gave a convulsive start, moved 
 off a little, and turned his broadside again to me. I 
 fired again, over a hundred yards this time, but he did 
 not move. I loaded and fired the third time, where- 
 upon he turned and faced me, as if about to show 
 fight. As I was loading for a fourth shot, he tottered 
 forward a step or two, and I thought he was about to 
 fall. So I waited for a little while ; but as he did not 
 come down, I determined to go up and finish him. 
 Walking up, therefore, to within thirty paces of him, 
 till I could actually see his eyes rolling. I fired for 
 the fourth time directly at the region of the heart, as 
 I thought ; but to my utter amazement, up went 
 his tail and down went his head, and with a speed J 
 thought him little capable of, he was upon me in a 
 twinkling. I ran hard for it ; but he rapidly over- 
 hauled me, and my situation was becoming anything 
 but pleasant. Thinking he might, like our own 
 bulls, shut his eyes in making a charge, I moved 
 suddenly to one side to escape the shock ; but to my 
 horror, I failed in dodging him, for he bolted round 
 quicker than I did, and affording me barely time to 
 protect my stomach with the stock of my rifle, and to 
 turn myself sideways, as I sustained the charge in the 
 hope of getting between his horns, he came plump 
 upon me with a shock like an earthquake. My rifle 
 stock was shivered to pieces by one horn, my clothes 
 torn by the other. I flew into mid-air, scattering my 
 prairie-fowl and rabbits, which had hitherto hung 
 dangling by leather thongs, in all directions, till, 
 landing at last, I fell unhurt in the snow, and almost 
 over me, fortunately not quite, rolled my infuriated 
 antagonist, and subsided in a snow-drift. I was 
 luckily not the least injured, the force of the blow 
 having been perfectly deadened by the enormous 
 mass of fur, wool, and hair that clothed his shaggy 
 head-piece." 
 
 In reading this account, we cannot but admire the
 
 BISON. 319 
 
 ready presence of mind which seems to he engen- 
 dered by a length of time spent in chasing dangerous 
 animals. 
 
 The importance of the bison to the Indians can- 
 not be overrated, as it furnishes them with almost 
 every necessary of life. But their improvidence, 
 which is the usual characteristic of man in a savage 
 state, often causes them to be for many days without 
 a morsel of meat. A grand bison-dance is then de- 
 termined upon by the sages of the tribe. For this 
 dance, every Indian is forced to furnish himself with 
 a grotesque mask, made of the head of a bison, 
 dressed so as to retain the whole of the bushy mane, 
 and further adorned by a long strip of hide taken 
 along the spine of the animal, to the end of which is 
 attached the tail. It is, in fact, a continuous strip of 
 hide, terminating at one extremity by the animal's 
 head, and at the other by its tail. Several excellent 
 specimens of these masks may be seen at Catlin's 
 Exhibition. 
 
 When a sufficient number of dancers are as- 
 sembled, they form themselves into a ring, and keep 
 up a strange movement, intended to resemble the 
 movements of the bison. As the gestures are rather 
 laborious, the dancer is fatigued in a short time. 
 "When he finds himself beginning to feel tired, he 
 stoops down and places himself in front of one of the 
 other dancers, who shoots him with a blunted arrow, 
 with which they are all provided. The dancer then 
 falls down, counterfeits the struggles of a wounded 
 bison, and after simulating its death, is entitled to 
 leave the ring and rest himself. 
 
 The Indians are very proud of this dance, and 
 boast that it never fails of bringing bisons an asser- 
 tion which is strictly true, inasmuch as they never 
 leave off dancing until the bisons have appeared. 
 
 The hide of the bison is also used by the Indians 
 in making their shields. For this purpose, a care- 
 fully-chosen hide is stretched on the ground, and sur-
 
 320 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 rounded with pegs, in order to prevent one part from 
 contracting more than another. The hide is then 
 subjected to the dressing-process, the principal part 
 of which consists in embuing it with glue ; and the 
 pegs being gradually and carefully removed, it shrinks 
 into barely half its former dimensions, and nearly 
 doubles its thickness. It is then cut and trimmed 
 into shape ; and when it has seen some service is 
 fringed with scalps and such like ornaments. Al- 
 though the shield retains a considerable portion of 
 flexibility, it is proof against an arrow ; but is of little 
 use against a rifle-ball. The quality of the shield de- 
 pends materially on the skill of the maker, some 
 Indians being celebrated for the excellency of their 
 manufacture. The Indians are most skilful in lea- 
 ther making, if we may call untanned skins leather. 
 They have a method of preparing the skins of deer 
 in such a way that they always retain their flexibility, 
 and, even if saturated with water, do not become stiff 
 and hard when dry, as is the case with leather in 
 general. 
 
 The flesh of the bison is used extensively in the 
 manufacture of the hard composition known by the 
 name of " dried meat " and " pemmican." The dried 
 meat is very correctly so termed ; for it is very dry 
 indeed, and looks like portions of old rope saturated 
 with tar ; and the pemmican, which is, as it were, the 
 butter, the dried meat forming the bread, is undis- 
 guisedly tallow and sawdust mixed in equal propor- 
 tions. The pemmican, it may be observed, is consi- 
 dered to be rather a delicacy ; and only a small piece 
 is served out with every pound of dried meat. 
 
 I would not recommend any one who can get any- 
 thing else to try their teeth upon dried meat, even 
 with the addition of pemmican. I have tried it my- 
 self; and on displaying unmitigated disgust, was 
 told by a sailor, that if I had been three or four days 
 without anything to eat, it would have been delicious, 
 particularly if the pemmican had been made into
 
 BISON. 321 
 
 broth, and the dried meat dipped into it. Broth! 
 Fancy a "broth" composed of a piece of tallow about 
 the size of a lady's thimble, immersed in a pint of 
 boiling water, and you will have a very correct idea of 
 the broth mentioned with such approbation. 
 
 The bison cows are always chosen in preference to 
 the bulls, for conversion into pemmican and dried 
 meat, their flesh being much more tender than that 
 of the male animal. When prepared, I suppose the 
 difference to the palate would be as great as between 
 old ropes and old whipcord. The animal does not 
 only furnish meat for the hunter, but also drink ; for 
 the hunters sometimes relieve their thirst in a 
 manner similar to that employed by the camel- 
 drivers namely, by piercing the stomach of the 
 slaughtered animal, and collecting the liquid therein 
 contained. Mr. Townsend, who has related several 
 "buffalo" hunts with some spirit, on seeing this plan 
 pursued by some of the hunters, was so disgusted 
 that, although tormented with burning thirst, he put 
 aside the cup politely offered him by his companions, 
 who only indulged in a hearty laugh at such squeam- 
 ishness, and drained the tin pan with eveiy mark of 
 approval. He soon, however, so far laid aside his 
 civilised feelings of disgust, as to quench his thirst by 
 a method that proves the ancient mode of suicide 
 by drinking bull's blood to be very apocryphal ; for no 
 harm happened to him after indulging in a length- 
 ened draught from the heart of the bison. 
 
 During many months of the year, the prairie is 
 deeply covered with snow, under which is buried the 
 herbage on which the bison feeds. The hungry ani- 
 mals do not scrape away the snow with their feet, as 
 might be supposed, but push it away with their 
 noses. So trying is this duty, that the snow is often 
 seen stained with blood where they have been feed- 
 ing, and their noses are found to be quite raw when, 
 they have been shot in winter. In the summer, 
 however, they fare luxuriously ; for many miles of 
 
 Y
 
 322 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 prairie are often set on fire, sometimes purposely to 
 drive out the lurking animals, sometimes accidentally 
 from the fire left by a hunter. The dry grass is thus 
 burned up, and in its place springs up a large quan- 
 tity of most delicately tender herbage. 
 
 No benefit is without its drawbacks, and the bisons 
 compound for their improved food by their sufferings 
 from the mosquito. To fortify themselves against 
 the attacks of then- winged foes, they take every op- 
 portunity of rolling themselves in the mud, which, 
 when hardened, forms a defence that even a mosquito 
 cannot pierce. It is not everywhere that the bison 
 can find a mud-hole, so he makes one for himself 
 when the mosquitoes begin to plague him. He looks 
 out for any damp spot, and throwing himself on the 
 ground, whirls himself round and round, until he 
 has made a large hole in the earth. This soon 
 tills with the water that drams into it from the moist 
 earth, and by the continual exertions of the bison's 
 body, is soon made into a large mud-hole. In many 
 places, the ground is quite studded with these holes. 
 I had forgotten to mention that there is also a pre- 
 paration called "jerked" meat, made from the bison. 
 The mode of manufacture is remarkable for its sim- 
 plicity. The flesh is cut from the animal in long, 
 thin, naiTOw slips, and stuck upon branches of trees, 
 or pegged out on lines erected for the purpose until 
 it is dry and hard. Three days are sufficient for the 
 purpose. Let us hope, for the sake of the consumers, 
 that it is better than dried meat and pemmican. 
 
 It may seem rather strange that so conspicuous an 
 animal as the bison should be mistaken for any other 
 creature in existence, especially in its own country. 
 But it is so, and the inexperienced hunter frequently 
 mistakes it for an animal about as unlike the original 
 as can be expected, viz. a crow. This is owing to 
 the difficulty of distinguishing distances on the vast 
 expanse of the prairie, when there are no intervening 
 objects to serve as guides for the eye, and therefore,
 
 BISON. 323 
 
 an ilnaccustomed eye is not aware of the great dis- 
 tance between itself and the little black objects, who 
 are consequently supposed by the novice to be crows. 
 However, to make matters equal, he as frequently 
 takes crows for bisons. 
 
 The young of this animal are very affectionate, but 
 by no means discriminating in their affection, as the 
 following extract from Townsend will show : 
 
 " The young buffalo calf is also very often taken, 
 and if removed Jrom the mother and out of sight of 
 the herd, he will foil ow the camp as steadily as a dog ; 
 but his propensity for following close at the horse's 
 heels, often gets him into trouble, as he meets with 
 more kicks than caresses from them. He is consi- 
 dered an interloper, and treated accordingly. The bull 
 calf, of a month or two old, is sometimes rather diffi- 
 cult to manage ; he shows no inclination to follow the 
 camp, like the younger ones, and requires to be 
 dragged along by main force. At such times he 
 watches for a good opportunity, and before his captor 
 is at all aware of what is going on, he receives a butt 
 from this little brute, which, in most cases, lays him 
 sprawling upon the ground. 
 
 " I had an adventure of this sort a few days before 
 we arrived at the rendezvous. I captured a large bull- 
 calf, and, with considerable difficulty, managed to drag 
 him into the camp by means of a rope wound around 
 his neck, and made fast to the high pommel of my 
 saddle. Here I attached him firmly, by a cord, to a 
 stake driven into the ground, and considered him 
 secure. In a few minutes, however, he succeeded in 
 breaking his fastenings, and away he scoured out of 
 the camp. I lost no time hi giving chase, and 
 although I fell flat into a ditch, and afforded no little 
 amusement to our people thereby, I soon overtook 
 him, and was about seizing the stunted rope, which 
 was still around his neck, when, to my surprise, the 
 little animal showed fight ; he came at me with all his 
 force, and, dashing his head into my breast, bore me 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 to the ground in a twinkling. I, however, finally suc- 
 ceeded in recapturing him, and led and pushed him 
 back to the camp ; but I could make nothing of him 
 his stubbornness would neither yield to severity nor 
 kindness, and the next morning I loosed him and let 
 him go." 
 
 Mr Palliser records a similar case of tameness on 
 the part of a bison calf. He chased it and its mother 
 for some time, until the mother was at last forced to 
 leave her offspring. The little animal, who had 
 scarcely opened its eyes on the world, ran gallantly, 
 but was at last overhauled. One of its pursuers then 
 imitated the cry of a bison cow, when the calf turned 
 round, trotted up to the hunters, and accompanied 
 them home to the fort, frisking round them the whole 
 time. 
 
 The bison has been successfully tamed, and there 
 are now several living in Ireland. 
 
 DEER. 
 
 THE oxen are all more or less clumsy in their shape 
 and movements, but the deer are almost invariably 
 both elegant in form and graceful in action. Putting 
 aside the general shape of the animals, the deer are 
 distinguished at once from the oxen by the peculiar 
 formation and shape of their horns. The horns of 
 the oxen are hollow, permanent, and formed around a 
 vascular core. They are, moreover, composed of a pe- 
 culiar substance analogous to the material of which 
 hoofs and talons are composed. 
 
 The horns of all the deer are formed on a very dif- 
 ferent principle. In the first place, they are solid de- 
 posits of bone; in the second, they are deciduous, 
 being only retained during part of a year ; and in the 
 third place, they are deposited from the exterior in- 
 stead of the interior. The process of formation is 
 so singular, that I shall give a short account of the 
 progress of a horn during its short-lived existence.
 
 DEER. 325 
 
 We will suppose that a full-grown stag is hiding in 
 the depths of the forests, in the month of March. 
 He has no horns of any kind, and is hardly to be dis- 
 tinguished from a doe, but for his superior size. On 
 his head are two slight prominences, covered with a 
 kind of velvety skin. In a few days the prominences 
 become much larger, and in a week or so begin to as- 
 sume a bom like shape. Now, grasp these budding 
 horns with your hand, and you will find them quite 
 hot, considerably hotter than those of the young ox. 
 They are hot, because this velvety substance, with 
 which they are covered, is little else than a thick mass 
 of arteries and veins, through which the blood is 
 pouring almost with the rapidity of inflammation, de- 
 positing with every touch a minute portion of bony 
 matter. More and more rapidly increases the growth. 
 The external carotid arteries become enlarged, to 
 supply a sufficient tide of blood to the horns through 
 their arteries, whose size can be imagined from the 
 grooves that they leave on the horn At this period, 
 of their growth, the horns can be easily broken off, 
 and if they are wounded in any way, the blood 
 pours out with astonishing rapidity. At length the 
 process is complete, and the noble animal walks 
 decorated proudly with his enormous mass of horns. 
 But the horns are at present useless, or worse than 
 useless to him, for not only does he not use them, 
 but he fears the slightest touch, because the san- 
 guineous tide still pours round them. How is this to 
 be stopped, and how is the velvety covering to be got 
 rid of? 
 
 In a manner no less simple than wonderful. The 
 arteries, having completed their work in depositing 
 sufficient matter for the substance of the horn, now 
 turn their attention to the base. It will be seen that 
 all the arteries that supply blood to the horns must 
 necessarily pass up its base. As the bony substance 
 is deposited, each artery leaves for itself a groove, very 
 deep at the base, and becoming shallower towards the
 
 326 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 tip. The entire horn being furnished, the hase now 
 becomes enlarged ; the grooves, in which the arteries 
 lie, are covered by a bony deposit that compresses 
 the artery within ; the deposit becomes gradually 
 thicker, and the arteries are in consequence gradually 
 reduced in size, until at last they are completely oblite- 
 rated, and the supply of blood cut off entirely. The 
 velvet, being thus deprived of its nutriment, soon 
 dies, and in a few days dries up, when the deer rubs 
 off the shrivelled fragments against the trees, and is 
 ready for combat. 
 
 Sometimes the deer is so impatient that he rubs off 
 the velvet before the arteries are entirely obliterated, 
 and consequently loses some blood. I have seen a 
 rein-deer busily engaged in rubbing off the velvet 
 while the blood was trickling down the horns, and the 
 velvet hanging in crimson rags, dripping with blood. 
 The animal presented a most ferocious appearance at 
 the time. 
 
 EED DEER, ETC 
 
 WE will commence with the Stag, or Eed Deer,* and, 
 before proceeding with the true account of the animal, 
 will read an extract from the pages of our friend Top- 
 sell. 
 
 He here gives us an account of the proceedings 
 between a hart and a serpent. 
 
 " I cannot assent to the opinion of JElianus, that 
 affirmeth, the serpents follow the breath of a hart 
 like some philtre or amarous cup ; for seeing that all 
 authors hold an hostility in natures betwixt them, it 
 is not probable that the serpent loveth the breath of a 
 beast, unto whose whole body he is an enemy, with a 
 perpetual antipathy. And if any reply that the warm 
 breath of a hart is acceptable to the cold serpent, and 
 that therefore she followeth it, as a dog creepeth to the 
 fire, or as other beasts to the beams of the sun ; I will 
 * Cervus Elaphus,
 
 RED DEER, ETC. 327 
 
 not greatly gainsay it, seeing by that means it is most 
 clear, that the breath doth not by any secret force, or 
 virtue, extract and draw her out of the den, but rather 
 the concomitant quality of heat, which is not from 
 the secret fire in the bones of the hart's throat (as 
 Pliny hath taught), but rather from her ordinary ex- 
 piration, inspiration, and respiration. For it cannot 
 be, that seeing all the parts of a serpent are opposite 
 to a hart, that there should be any love to that which 
 killeth her. 
 
 " For my opinion, I think that the manner of the 
 hart drawing the serpent out of her den, is not as 
 jElianus and Pliny affirmeth by sending into the cave 
 a warm breath which burneth and scorcheth the beast 
 out of her den ; but rather when the hart hath found 
 the serpent's nest, she draweth the air by secret and 
 violent attraction out from the serpent, who to save 
 her life followeth the air out of her den ; as when a 
 vessel is broached or vented, the wine followeth the 
 flying air ; and as a cupping-glass draweth blood out 
 of a scarified place of the body, so the serpent is 
 drawn unwillingly to follow her distroyer, and not 
 willingly as Mlianm affirmeth." 
 
 This account is wonderful enough, but not so won- 
 derful as the circumstantial relation of the enmity 
 between deer and serpents, and their combats, as 
 given by the same writer in the following lines. 
 
 " There is many times strange conflicts betwixt the 
 hart and the serpent thus drawn forth ; for the serpent 
 seeing her adversary, lifteth her neck above the ground, 
 and gnasheth at the hart with her teeth, breathing out 
 very bitter hissings ; on the contrary, the hart, deriding 
 the vain endeavours of his weak adversary, readier to 
 fright than powerful to harm him, suffereth him to 
 embrace both his neck and legs with his long and 
 thin body, but in an instant teareth it into a hundred 
 pieces. But the most strange combats are betwixt the 
 harts and serpents of Lybia, where the hatred is 
 deeper, and the serpents watch the hart wjien he lyeth
 
 328 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 asleep on the ground, and being a multitude of them 
 set upon him together, fastening their poysenful teeth 
 in every part of his skin ; some on his sides and back, 
 some on his legs, and some do hang upon his belly, 
 biting him with mortal rage, to overthrow their foe. 
 
 " The poor hart being thus oppressed with a multi- 
 tude, and pricked with venomous pains, essayeth to 
 run away, but all in vain, their cold earthly bod'ies and 
 winding tails, both overcharge his strength, and hinder 
 his pace ; he then in a rage, with his teeth, feet, and 
 horns assaileth his enemies, whose spears are entered 
 into his body, tearing some of them in pieces, and 
 beating others asunder; they nevertheless (like men) 
 knowing that now they must dye rather than give over 
 and yield to the pitiless enemy, cleave fast, and keep 
 the hold of their teeth upon his body, although their 
 other parts be mortally wounded, and nothing left but 
 their heads, and therefore will dye together with their 
 foe, seeing if they were asunder no compassion can 
 delay or mitigate their natural unappeasable hatred. 
 
 " The hart, having eased himself by the slaughter 
 of some (like an elephant at the sight of the blood), be- 
 stirreth himself more busily in the eager battail, and 
 therefore treadeth some under foot in the blood of 
 their fellows, others he pursueth with teeth and horn, 
 until he see them all destroyed ; and, whereas the 
 heads hang fast in his skin, for avoiding and pulling 
 them forth (by a divine natural instinct^, he flyeth or 
 runneth to the waters where he findeth sea crabs, and 
 of them he maketh a medicine whereby he shaketh 
 off the serpents' heads, cureth their wounds, and 
 avoydeth all their poyson ; this valiant courage is in 
 harts against serpents, whereas they are naturally 
 afraid of hares and conies and will not fight with 
 them." 
 
 With this extremely probable account, we dismiss 
 imagination and proceed to reality. 
 
 The Stag, or Red Deer, is spread throughout the 
 forest lands of Europe and Asia, but only where the
 
 RED DEER, ETC. 829 
 
 clirnate is temperate. It has been driven out of 
 England, but still finds a refuge among the fastnesses 
 of Scotland. Yet even there the race of rifle-bearing 
 hunters has so materially increased, that the poor stag 
 seems to be in a fair way to be extirpated even from 
 that his last hold. 
 
 The stag-hunts of old used to be most magnificent 
 spectacles, many thousand men being gathered to- 
 gether, and great numbers of stags being taken. Now, 
 however, all such meetings are prohibited, as it was 
 found that the chiefs used to make these hunts mere 
 excuses for gathering their followers, and an act of 
 Parliament accordingly prohibited the custom. The 
 act was put forth during the disturbances in Scotland, 
 and although those rebellious days have passed away, 
 the act still remains in force. 
 
 Most of the deer that are now slain fall by the 
 hand of the deer-stalker, who creeps with untiring 
 caution over rocks, among thorns, through mud and 
 water, until he can bring his rifle to bear upon the 
 deer, who falls prostrate before the deadly grooved 
 bore. 
 
 Considerable judgment is necessary, as to the pre- 
 cise point where the deer ought to be struck, and it 
 not unfrequently happens that an inexperienced 
 hunter actually misses the deer altogether, because he 
 thinks that it is impossible not to hit so big an animal; 
 and sometimes the deer is struck in a place where 
 the ball does not have an immediately mortal effect, 
 but leaves strength enough for the wounded animal to 
 reach some place of refuge, and there lie down and 
 die. 
 
 The best place to strike the deer is immediately be- 
 hind the shoulder, as the baU then must wound the 
 vital organs, either the heart or the lungs, and possibly 
 both. It would seem probable that a ball through either 
 of these important parts would cause instant death, or, 
 at all events, would bring the animal instantly to the 
 ground ; such, however, is not the case. If a deer falls
 
 330 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 to the shot, it is a sign that the wound is not instantly 
 mortal, and that the animal will rise in a very short 
 time and escape ; if, then, the deer does so drop, the 
 hunter must contrive to kill it at once, before it can 
 rise again. On one occasion, a huntsman had fired 
 at a deer which instantly dropped ; he, being inex- 
 perienced in deer-shooting, ran to the fallen animal, 
 drew his knife, and standing astride it, was engaged 
 in contemplating the noble proportions of his prey, 
 when the deer suddenly rose to its fore feet, and threw 
 back its head with such violence, that the hunter, who 
 was carelessly grasping one of its horns, was thrown 
 completely over the creature's back, and just rose in 
 time to see the animal at a hopeless distance, gallop- 
 ing as fast as its legs could carry it, 
 
 Another hunter had dropped a deer, but he, knowing 
 the habits of the animal, instantly knelt upon one 
 horn, and holding down its head with one hand 
 killed the deer with the other. " Pithing" is the 
 method generally employed for this purpose. The 
 knife is thrust between the last vertebra and the 
 head. The juncture of the spinal cord with the brain 
 is thus severed, and the animal falls dead as if struck 
 by lightning. No force is required, as, if the proper 
 place is chosen, the knife slips in as easily as into a 
 sheath. But to return to our deer. The animal being 
 thus killed, its captor naturally enough began to search 
 for the place where the ball had struck. Now., a ball 
 that instantly brings the deer down is usually one 
 that has ranged too far back, and struck the deer in 
 the flank. No wound, however, was to be seen, and 
 the whole affair looked veiy mysterious. At last, a 
 close inspection brought to view a slight strip of skin 
 hanging just beneath one of the antlers. Here the 
 ball had just glanced, and had stunned the animal for 
 a short time, but a very few minutes would have set 
 it on its legs again, when it would have been but little 
 the worse for the blow. 
 
 When the deer is really mortally struck, it only gives
 
 
 4? 
 
 THB BKO-DBBK AWD HIND. 
 
 p. 331.
 
 BED DEEE, ETC. 331 
 
 a kind of convulsive shudder, and bounds on with in- 
 creaseft speed, but in a very few minutes the hunter 
 finds it lying on the ground. Deer not unfre- 
 quently run several hundred yards after a ball has 
 passed through both lungs, and one deer was seen 
 to run a considerable distance after the lower part 
 of its heart had been shot away. 
 
 When chased with dogs and brought to bay, it is 
 a dangerous animal, often killing several of the dogs, 
 and putting the life of the hunter in some peril. 
 
 The doe of this deer is exceedingly attached to her 
 young, and appears to teach it to be motionless if an 
 enemy is at hand. Of this peculiarity, Mr. St. John 
 gives the following account : 
 
 " I one day, some time ago, was watching a red-deer 
 hind with my glass, whose proceedings I did not 
 understand, till I saw that she was engaged in licking 
 a newly-born calf. I walked up to the place, and as 
 soon as the old deer saw me she gave the young one 
 a slight tap with her hoof. The little creature im- 
 mediately laid itself down ; and when I came up I 
 found it lying with its head flat on the ground, its ears 
 closely laid back, and with all the attempts at conceal- 
 ment that one sees in animals which have passed an 
 apprenticeship to danger of some years, whereas it 
 had evidently not known the world for more than an 
 hour, being unable to run or escape. I lifted up the 
 little creature, being half inclined to carry it home in 
 order to rear it. The mother stood at a distance of 
 two hundred yards, stamping with her foot, exactly as 
 a sheep would have done in a similar situation." 
 
 The narrator proceeds to say, that as he would have 
 had to carry it a great distance, and being fearful lest 
 it should be hurt during its transit, he replaced it on the 
 ground. The mother then trotted up with every ap- 
 pearance of joy at the release of her young, and exa- 
 mined it all over, apparently heedless of the presence 
 of man, from whom she would at any other time have 
 fled precipitately.
 
 332 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE.' 
 
 An account of the maternal love of the fallow deer 
 is preserved in White's " Selbome." It was the cus- 
 tom among the inhabitants of the neighbourhood 
 of Waltham chase to search for young fawns, and to 
 pare their hoofs with a penknife, so that they could 
 not walk even when they were tolerably grown, and 
 the rascally poachers could come and take them when- 
 ever they chose. Some of these fellows, accompanied 
 with a dog, went to search after a fawn that they 
 suspected was concealed in a patch of dried fern. 
 Scarcely had they approached the place, when the 
 hind sprung out of a thicket, and coming down on the 
 dog with all its fore feet close together, broke its neck. 
 
 Having been thus introduced to the Fallow Deer,* 
 we will say a few words about it. There are few who 
 have not seen this pretty and elegant animal, either 
 couched in parties under the shade of the trees, or 
 wandering at will through the parks in which it lives. 
 The deer are very gentle, except at certain times of 
 the year, when it is even dangerous to come near them, 
 for the bucks are ready to fight with everything that 
 comes in their way, and can charge with such violence, 
 that an unarmed man would stand but little chance 
 against the powerful horns of his active adversary. 
 
 At such a time of year, a gentleman, an amateur in 
 landscape-drawing, had ventured into a park heedless 
 of danger, and was engaged in sketching, when a 
 deer saw him, and charged full upon him. Down 
 went his pencils and papers, and he was only too 
 happy to escape the animal's fury, even with the loss 
 of his drawings. The creature's assault had a bene- 
 ficial effect, for it taught this draughtsman an art of 
 which he had thought himself ignorant. Hearing the 
 animal close behind him he seized a branch that 
 hung overhead, and curled himself into the tree 
 with an activity that could only be expected from 
 one versed in the practice of gymnastics. 
 
 The fallow deer are often so tame, that they will 
 * Dama vulgaris.
 
 BED DEER, ETC. 333 
 
 come and eat from the hand. They are not very dis- 
 criminating in their appetites, and devour a ham sand- 
 wich, mustard and all, with as great appearance of 
 enjoyment as if it had been the most delicate tuft of 
 grass that could be found. There are a few deer 
 kept in the grounds belonging to Magdalen College, 
 Oxford, and it used to be a favourite amusement to 
 the juvenile members of the college to tie a large 
 crust of bread to a string, and angle for the deer 
 out of their windows. The deer would come round 
 the crust, and jostle each other about very roughly 
 to get a bite at it, but when the master deer came 
 by, they silently left the bread to him. It was 
 very curious to see the manner in which the deer 
 would continue to eat a large bread without once letting 
 it fall out of their mouths. The crusts were so large, 
 and the deers' mouths were so small, that they could 
 only take in a very small portion of the bread at once, 
 but by steady and persevering nibbling the crust used 
 to lessen by degrees, and soon disappeared entirely. 
 
 Deer are not so agreeable when kept as pets, as 
 when they are permitted to run at large in parks. All 
 pets are proverbially troublesome and presuming in 
 their habits ; but a pet deer even exceeds the usual bad 
 behaviour, as will be seen from the account given by 
 Mr. St. John of a pet roebuck.* 
 
 " A young roe, when caught unhurt, is not difficult 
 to rear, though their great tenderness and delicacy of 
 limb makes it not easy to handle them without injur- 
 ing them. They soon become perfectly tame, and 
 attach themselves to their master. When in captivity 
 they will eat almost anything that is offered to them, 
 and from this cause are frequently destroyed, pick- 
 ing up and swallowing some indigestible substance 
 about the house. A tame buck, however, becomes 
 a dangerous pet; for, after attaining to his full 
 strength, he is very apt to make use of it in attacking 
 people whose appearance he does not like. They parti- 
 * Capreolus Capfcua.
 
 Si)4 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 cularly single out women and children as their victims, 
 and inflict severe and dangerous wounds with their 
 sharp pointed horns ; and notwithstanding their small 
 size, their strength and activity make them a very 
 unpleasant adversary. One day, at a kind of public 
 garden near Brighton, I saw a beautiful but small roe- 
 buck in an inclosure fastened with a chain, which 
 seemed strong enough and heavy enough to hold and 
 weigh down an elephant. Pitying the poor animal, 
 an exile from his native land, I asked what reason they 
 could have for ill using him by putting such a weight 
 of iron about 'his neck. The keeper of the place, 
 however, told me that small as the roebuck was the 
 chain was quite necessary, as he had attacked and 
 killed a boy of twelve years old a few days before, 
 stabbing the poor fellow in fifty places with his sharp 
 pointed horns. Of course I had no more to urge 
 in his behalf." 
 
 The red deer has frequently been tamed, and one 
 was brought completely under subjection by a late 
 nobleman, who succeeded in breaking four stags to 
 run in a chariot. He was naturally very fond of his 
 novel steeds, and was accustomed to drive them to the 
 various sporting localities which he was in the habit 
 of frequenting. 
 
 On one of these excursions the whole affair had a 
 very narrow escape of entire destruction. The noble- 
 man was driving to Newmarket, when the cry of a 
 pack of hounds burst upon his ear. Unfortunately, 
 the hounds came across the road over which the four 
 stags had just passed. The hounds immediately 
 changed their course, and set off at full speed after 
 the stags, whose scent was too great a temptation to 
 be resisted. The stags, on hearing the ciy of the 
 dogs, bounded off at their swiftest pace, in spite of the 
 efforts of the driver and the mounted grooms, who 
 always accompanied the equipage. The pace grew 
 more and more furious on the part of pursuers and 
 pursued, and the driver began to fear for the safety of
 
 WAPITI. 335 
 
 his vehicle and himself, when he bethought himself 
 of an inn at Newmarket where he had been in the 
 habit of stabling his horned steeds. To this inn he 
 directed all his efforts, and fortunately succeeded in 
 getting his vehicle within the gates. The stags were 
 now overpowered by the force of ostler and stable 
 boys, and the whole affair, stags, vehicle and driver 
 were thrust into a bam and the door shut, just as the 
 hounds entered the inn-yard. 
 
 WAPITI.* 
 
 THERE is a kind of deer found in North America, 
 called the Wapiti. It is not at all unlike the red 
 deer; but is a large animal, and the shape of the 
 horns is somewhat different. There has risen some 
 confusion regarding this animal, in consequence of 
 the title " elk" being erroneously applied to it by the 
 Canadians. It is a splendid animal ; but not likely 
 to be much valued on account of the coarseness of its 
 flesh. The skin is valuable, as it forms very soft 
 leather, and the paws are also extremely useful in 
 their way. The tongue seems to be the only part of 
 the animal worth eating. 
 
 The same precautions must be taken in hunting this 
 animal as in the chase of the red deer ; and a ball tells 
 upon the two animals in precisely the same manner. 
 It has already been mentioned, that if a red deer drops 
 to the shot, it is likely to rise again and escape, and 
 the same may be said of the wapiti. Not long since, 
 a hunter fired at a wapiti standing on a ledge of rock, 
 overhanging a deep pool, and about thirty feet above 
 the water. Down dropped the deer, and off went the 
 hunter to secure his prey. He drew his knife, 
 grasped it by the horns, and was just about to inflict 
 the fatal wound, when the animal sprang up and 
 commenced a regular attack, striving to drive its as- 
 sailant into the water. In this it was successful ; for 
 it made so powerful a spring at him, that both man 
 * Cervus Canadensis.
 
 336 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 and deer toppled over the edge of the rock, and per- 
 formed a summersault into the pool below. The 
 fallen hunter's faculties were absorbed in escaping 
 from the water, and on gaining the bank, he saw his 
 deer just disappearing in the distance. Some months 
 after this adventure, he shot a deer which, from the 
 scar of a wound in its neck, he supposed to be his 
 former adversary, over whom he had at last trium- 
 phed. 
 
 The voice of the wapiti during the breeding sea- 
 son is a curious and highly musical sound, rising a 
 sixth by a slur,- and resembling the tones of an enor- 
 mous flute. 
 
 The deer are very fond of salt, and frequent cer- 
 tain salt marshes called " licks," where the animals 
 lick the salt away from the soil. The hunters take 
 advantage of this predilection, and by concealing them- 
 selves near these salt marshes, destroy numbers of 
 the deer as they pass to and fro. It appears that 
 some of these " licks" are frequented exclusively by 
 the bucks, while the does take possession of other 
 " licks" for themselves. 
 
 The great size of the animal would make it easily 
 distinguishable at a considerable distance, were it not 
 that it has the instinct to conceal itself among sub- 
 stances of its own colour, and this it does so effectu- 
 ally, that the eye of a practised hunter is required to 
 mark it, an inexperienced searcher being unable to 
 see it even when the exact spot in which it is lying is 
 pointed out to him. 
 
 Although the head is loaded with a large mass of 
 branching horns, the wapiti can plunge through the 
 thickets with the greatest ease, so that ^Esop's fable 
 of the stag caught by his horns would not apply to 
 the wapiti. So far from being any hindrance to the 
 passage of the animal through the branches, the 
 horns are an assistance and a defence ; for as they 
 form a very acute angle with the line of the back, the 
 animal, in rushing through a thicket, merely lays the
 
 MOOSE-DEER. 337 
 
 horns on his back, and thereby defends his skin from 
 the branches. 
 
 The Indians hunt the deer after many curious 
 fashions. If a single man goes to hunt the deer, he 
 furnishes himself with the dried head and neck of a 
 stag, and with a branch of a tree. Thus prepared, he 
 creeps as near the deer as he can, and when he finds 
 that they are beginning to take the alarm, he raises 
 and depresses the dried stag's head, so as to delude 
 the animals into the belief that it is only a comrade 
 hiding behind a bush. He is thus enabled to single 
 out the best animal, who is soon laid low by a bullet 
 behind the shoulder. Sometimes a skilful hunter can 
 even attract the deer towards him by imitating their 
 cry. 
 
 MOOSE-DEER* 
 
 THE real moose-deer, or elk, is a very different ani- 
 mal, being nearly double the size of the wapiti, 
 and bearing large palmated horns. It is rather a 
 clumsy animal in its movements, and shuffles along 
 in a very awkward way, but with great swiftness. It 
 is an easy animal to tame when it is taken very young ; 
 but after it has attained to some age, it is very fierce, 
 as the following anecdote, by Audubon, will show. 
 He is speaking of a young moose-deer that had been 
 captured. 
 
 " The moose was so exhausted and fretted, that it 
 offered no opposition to us as we led it to the camp ; 
 but in the middle of the night, we were awakened by 
 a great noise in the hovel, and found that, as it had 
 in some measure recovered from its terror and state 
 of exhaustion, it began to think of getting home, and 
 was so much enraged at finding itself so securely 
 imprisoned. We were unable to do anything with it ; 
 for if we merely approached our hands to the open- 
 ings of the hut, it would spring at us with the 
 greatest fury, roaring and erecting its mane in a 
 
 * Alces palmatus. 
 
 z
 
 338 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 manner that convinced us of the futility of all at- 
 tempts to save it alive. We threw to it the skin of a 
 Jeer, which it tore to pieces in a moment. This in- 
 dividual was a yearling, and about six feet high." 
 
 The moose is generally caught in the winter time 
 by hunters mounted on snow shoes, which enable 
 them to skim over the surface of the snow, while the 
 moose breaks through the snow at every stride and is 
 soon wearied out. Enterprising individuals have 
 tried the experiment of taming the moose, and em- 
 ploying it in various kinds of labour ; their efforts 
 have mostly been successful, and the animal is found 
 to answer very well as a beast of draught. The 
 mouth is very tender, and the bit must be applied 
 and removed with great care. The docility of the 
 young moose is quite on a par with that of the young 
 horse or mule. 
 
 It is rather a remarkable circumstance, that when 
 the moose is alarmed at a sudden noise, and endea- 
 vours to make its escape, it sometimes falls down 
 suddenly, as if in a fit. The paroxysm only lasts for 
 a very short time, and the moose leaps up again and 
 runs as if nothing had happened. 
 
 The flesh of the moose is tolerable ; but is rather 
 tougher and coarser than venison is expected to be. 
 The tongue and nose, however, especially the latter, 
 are considered great dainties, the nose being said to 
 resemble marrow. 
 
 The skin is mostly used for heavy work, such as 
 tent-covers and shoe-leather. The hair is veiy coarse 
 indeed, brown towards the end, and whitish towards 
 the base, which is also flattened and rather wavy, pre- 
 senting an appearance as if it had passed through a 
 miniature crimping machine. 
 
 The pages of Topsell inform us of a curious tradi- 
 tion respecting a chameleonic power said to reside in 
 the moose. 
 
 " The head of this beast is like the head of a hart, 
 and his horns branched or ragged ; his body for the
 
 GNOO. 339 
 
 part like a wilde oxes ; his hair deep and harsh 
 like a bear's ; his hide is so hard and thick that of it 
 the Scythians make breast-plates, which no dart can 
 pierce through. His colour, for the most part, like 
 an asses ; but when he is hunted or feared, he 
 changeth his hew into whatsoever thing he seeth ; as 
 among trees, he is like them ; among green boughs,, 
 he seemeth green ; amongst rocks or stones, he is 
 transmuted into their colour also, as it is generally by 
 most writers affirmed ; as Pliny and Solinus among 
 the ancient, Stephanus and Eustathius among the 
 later, writers. 
 
 " This, indeed, is the thing that seemeth most in- 
 credible ; but there are two reasons which draw me 
 to subscribe hereunto : first, because we see that the 
 face of men and beasts through fear, joy, anger, and 
 other passions do quickly change, from ruddy to 
 white, from black to pale, and from pale to ruddy 
 again. Now as this beast hath the head of a hart, so 
 also hath it the fear of a hart, but in a higher degree ; 
 and, therefore by secret operation, it may easily alter 
 the colour of their hair, as a passion in a reasonable 
 man, may alter the colour of his face." 
 
 GNOO.* 
 
 THIS very strange-looking animal has often been 
 asserted to be a mixture of the horse, ox, and stag, 
 deriving its head from the ox, its neck, mane, body, 
 and tail from the horse, and its legs and feet from the 
 stag. Now it is somewhat remarkable, that the gnoo 
 has nothing to do with either of these animals, for it 
 is one of the Antelopes. 
 
 The general form of this animal is so like that of 
 a horse, that in the classical caravans of Wombwell it 
 is announced as the " Horned Horse," and a most 
 vivid picture is hoisted over the entrance, representing 
 a number of gnoos in the highest state of friskiness, 
 all bridled and saddled, and ridden by negroes clothed 
 
 * CatoUepas Gnu. 
 
 z 2
 
 340 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 in the most resplendent habiliments. Wombwell 
 ought to be ashamed of himself for so pandering to 
 the popular ignorance, when he might just as easily 
 teach what is right as what is wrong. The keepers, 
 who go round the interior of the shows and describe 
 each animal, never do so without falling into gross 
 mistakes, which a look into any work on natural his- 
 tory of the present day would rectify. I think that if 
 a keeper were forbidden to tell his hearers that the 
 hyaena had never been tamed, or that " B The jackall is 
 the lion's provider," he would be unable to go on with 
 the remainder of his task. The fact is, that the people 
 have heard of the lion's provider, and come on pur- 
 pose to see it; they hear by tradition that the 
 hysena is untamable, and are desirous of beholding 
 so dreadful a creature. The keeper's tales are just 
 on a par with the representations of the battle of the 
 Nile usually exhibited at fairs, in which the proprie- 
 tors find it necessary to introduce the Duke of Wel- 
 lington as a coadjutor to Nelson, as the people are not 
 satisfied with any English battle, unless they see " the 
 Duke" in the thick of the fight. In a similar repre- 
 sentation of the battle of Waterloo, considerable 
 effect is always produced by a personal conflict be- 
 tween Napoleon mounted on a white horse, and the 
 Duke of Wellington on a black one, and the spectators 
 are in ecstacies with the next tableau, which repre- 
 sents Napoleon running away as fast as he can, and 
 " The Duke " just at his heels. 
 
 Now, having vented our indignation on Wombwell, 
 " et hoc genus omne," for describing the gnoo wrongly, 
 let us see what the animal really is. 
 
 It is an antelope, one of the bovine Antelopes. It 
 inhabits the south of Africa, and is always found in 
 large herds, which migrate from part to part, accord- 
 ing to the season of the year. It is much hunted, as 
 its flesh is excellent, and its skin valuable for many 
 purposes. It is very wild, and it is no easy matter to 
 get within shot of the herd, as on the first alarm, one
 
 GNOO. 341 
 
 animal takes the lead and rushes off, all the rest fol- 
 lowing in single file. 
 
 In hunting expeditions animals are taken in every 
 variety of traps, and by every description of dogs, but 
 few instances can be found like the following, where 
 a gnoo had served as his own dogs and his own trap. 
 " My waggon returned about twelve o'clock that night, 
 carrying the skin of my gemsbok, and also a magnifi- 
 cent old blue wildebeeste (the brindled gnoo), which 
 the Hottentots had obtained in an extraordinary man- 
 ner. He was found with one of his fore-legs caught 
 over his horns so that he could not run, and they 
 hamstrung him and cut his throat. He had probably 
 managed to get himself into this awkward attitude 
 while fighting with one of his fellows." Those who 
 have noticed the peculiar curve of the gnoo's horn 
 will at once see how difficult it would be for the poor 
 animal, after surmounting the difficulty of getting his 
 leg over his horn at all, to remove it from its unwonted 
 position. Moreover, these kind of animals have not 
 the sagacity necessary for such an operation as releas- 
 ing the imprisoned limb. They only plunge about in 
 a frantic state, and generally succeed in injuring 
 themselves severely. Those who have seen a horse 
 meet with any entanglement with the harness, such 
 as getting his leg over the traces, will at once under- 
 stand the position of the poor gnoo. Even a tamed 
 and comparatively intelligent animal exhibits the 
 greatest terror at the entanglement of any of its 
 limbs, and is unable to control its struggles ; and the 
 terror that a wild animal was thrown into by finding 
 its leg taken prisoner in so mysterious a manner 
 must have been extreme. 
 
 If the creature had only had the sense to put its 
 head down, and lower its horns, the imprisoned limb 
 could have been released without any difficulty, but 
 had it done so, it would have displayed a degree of 
 reasoning greater than is found among the bovine
 
 342 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 class of animals, who have hut little presence of mind. 
 It is from want of this presence of mind, that hares 
 and rabbits are so frequently taken by poachers. 
 Directly they feel the pressure of the wire on their 
 necks, they begin dragging at it with such violence, 
 that they strangle themselves. Indeed, most animals, 
 if they feel themselves entangled, begin to kick and 
 plunge, and struggle in a frantic manner, and often 
 either entangle themselves the more firmly, or break 
 some of their limbs. 
 
 Some of the movements of the gnoo are very gro- 
 tesque. Mr. Gumming gives the following account of 
 the gambols of the animal while under the influence 
 of fright. 
 
 " When the hunter approaches the old bulls, they 
 commence whisking their long white tails in a most 
 eccentric manner ; then springing suddenly into the 
 air, they begin pawing and capering, and pursue each 
 other in circles at their utmost speed. Suddenly they 
 all pull up together to overhaul the intruder, when 
 some of the bulls will often commence fighting in the 
 most violent manner, dropping on their knees at every 
 shock ; then quickly wheeling about, they kick up their 
 heels, whirl their tails with a fantastic flourish, and 
 scour across the plain, enveloped in a cloud of dust." 
 
 The gnoo attacks its enemy in a manner similar to 
 that practised by the Nyl-ghau, namely, by dropping 
 on its knees, and springing forward with a sudden 
 bound, with such rapidity, that considerable activity 
 is required to escape from the blow. 
 
 Mr. Gumming also relates a most peculiar circum- 
 stance that happened to a sassayby that he had shot. 
 
 " A singular circumstance occurred as I watched 
 the waters. Having shot a sassayby, he imme- 
 diately commenced choking from the blood, and his 
 body began to swell in a most extraordinary manner ; 
 it continued swelling, with the animal still alive, until 
 it literally resembled a fisherman's float, when the
 
 GNOO.' 343 
 
 animpl died of suffocation. It was not only his body 
 that swelled in that extraordinary manner, but even 
 his head and legs, down to his knees." 
 
 The air must have escaped from the lungs, and 
 been forced by the respiratory powers of the animal 
 between the skin and the flesh, until it had assumed 
 the puffy appearance spoken of. The feelings of the 
 poor animal could have been by no means enviable, as 
 the violent separation of the skin from the muscular 
 tissues must have been attended with very great pain. 
 
 The butchers use an analogous plan, to enable 
 them to remove the skin from the body with greater 
 ease. They introduce a tube between the skin and 
 the muscles, and by forcing air between the hide, the 
 skin is separated. The operation is rendered easier by 
 a constant succession of blows upon the skin. The 
 hide is then so loosened, that it is easily taken off. 
 
 The skin of most of the antelopes has a very 
 curious property of emitting a delicious perfume of 
 the trees and grass on which the animals have been 
 feeding. 
 
 The last of the antelopes that I shall mention is 
 the Spring-bole, a beautiful little animal, chiefly re- 
 markable for the enormous herds in which it congre- 
 gates. When this antelope migrates, or performs a 
 " trek-bokken," as the Boers call it, the numbers that 
 march together are almost incredible. " For about 
 two hours," says Gumming, "before the day dawned, 
 I had been lying awake in my waggon, listening to 
 the grunting of the bucks within two hundred yards 
 of me, imagining that some large herd of spring-boks 
 was feeding beside my camp ; but on my rising when 
 it was clear, and looking about me, I beheld the 
 ground to the northward of my camp, actually covered 
 with a dense living mass of spring-boks, marching 
 slowly and steadily along, extending from an opening 
 in a long range of hills on the west, through which 
 they continued pouring, like the flood of some 
 great river, to a ridge about a mile to the north-
 
 344 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 east, over which they disappeared. The breadth 
 of the ground they covered might have been some- 
 where about half a mile. I stood upon the fore-chest 
 of my waggon for nearly two hours, lost in wonder at 
 the novel and wonderful scene which was passing be- 
 fore me, and had some difficulty in convincing myself 
 that it was reality which I beheld, and not the wild 
 and exaggerated picture of a hunter's dream. During 
 this time, their vast legions continued streaming 
 through the neck hi the hills in one unbroken com- 
 pact phalanx." 
 
 This antelope derives its name from its unrivalled 
 powers of leaping, which it exerts sometimes in mere 
 sport, but mostly when under the influence of alarm. 
 Its extraordinaiy leaps are often exhibited when the 
 animal comes to the track of a man. It is so timid 
 and fearful, that it dares not walk over the track of a 
 man, but clears it with a tremendous bound, ten or 
 twelve feet high, and about fifteen long ; during the 
 leap, the Spring-bok curves its back something like a 
 cat when she sees a strange dog. It is truly an extra- 
 ordinary fact that an animal so small should be able 
 thus to take a leap, which, if it were standing in 
 the street, would carry it into the first floor-windows. 
 
 There is an antelope that inhabits America, and 
 which is remarkable for the singular way in which it 
 travels. One animal takes the lead, and the others 
 follow in single file, with the precision of a line of 
 soldiers. If the leader turns his head, all the line 
 turn their heads also, and if the leader springs, all 
 the line spring too. It is a very inquisitive animal, 
 although shy, and it is sometimes decoyed within rifle 
 distance, by a cap or a handkerchief placed on the top 
 of a stick. The antelopes run round and round this 
 unknown object, always keeping in single file, until 
 attracted by their curiosity, they approach so near, 
 that the hunter who is lying concealed in the grass, 
 is able to shoot one of them before they take the 
 alarm.
 
 GNOO. 345 
 
 THe young Indians have a game called the " ante- 
 lope," something resembling our " hare and hounds." 
 One of the most active of the Indian youths shades 
 and stripes his hody with chalk, so as to make it re- 
 semble the body of the animal in whose character he 
 is about to appear. He then binds on his head the 
 horns of an antelope, together with a portion of the 
 skin ; at a given signal he starts off, and the other 
 players pursue him among the huts or trees, until, 
 overpowered by superior numbers, the " antelope " is 
 caught. 
 
 I suppose that every one has read " Eothen ; " never- 
 theless, as there may possibly be some one who has 
 the misfortune not to have accompanied the traveller 
 hi his journeys through the lands of the sun, I will 
 conclude the antelopes with an account given by the 
 author of " Eothen," of a gazelle, as he calls it, that 
 was taken prisoner. 
 
 " I saw several creatures of the antelope kind hi 
 this part of the desert, and, one day, my Arabs sur- 
 prised in her sleep a young gazelle (for so I called 
 her), and took the darling prisoner. I carried her be- 
 fore me on the camel for the rest of the day, and kept 
 her in my tent all night : I did all I could to gain her 
 affections, but the trembling beauty refused to touch 
 food, and would not be comforted ; whenever she had 
 a seeming opportunity of escaping, she struggled with 
 a violence so painfully disproportioned to her fine 
 delicate limbs, that I could not go on with the cruel 
 attempt to make her my own. In the morning, there- 
 fore, I set her loose, anticipating some pleasure from 
 the joyous bound, with which, as I thought, she would 
 return to her native freedom. She had been so stu- 
 pified, however, by the exciting events of the pre- 
 ceding day and night, and was so puzzled as to the 
 road she should take, that she went off very delibe- 
 rately, and with an uncertain step. She was quite 
 sound in limb, but she looked so idiotic that I fancied 
 her intellect might have been really upset. Never,
 
 346 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 in all likelihood, had she seen the form of a human 
 being until the dreadful moment when she woke from 
 her sleep, and found herself in the gripe of an Arab. 
 Then her pitching and tossing journey on the back of 
 a camel, and, lastly, a soiree with me by candle-light. 
 I should have been glad to know, if I could, that her 
 heart was not broken." 
 
 GOATS, SHEEP, ETC. 
 
 THERE are two. genera of animals so similar in' their 
 characteristics, that for many years they were treated 
 as one genus. These are " Capra," and Ovis," the 
 one including the goats, and the other the sheep. 
 
 There are some goats that look so like sheep, and 
 some sheep that look so like goats, that the boundary 
 line was formerly not very clearly distinguished. 
 There are now, however, a number of distinctions 
 discovered, which it would be useless to numerate, 
 and the two genera are rendered perfectly dis- 
 tinct. One of the principal differences between the 
 two genera is, that the males of the goat kind are 
 odorous, while those of the sheep possess no odour 
 at all. But the chief distinctions are moral. 
 
 Both goats and sheep, when in a wild state, are re- 
 markable for their activity, but the goats far surpass 
 the sheep in this respect. Their sure footedness on 
 elevated pinnacles of rock is as singular as the agility 
 which enables the goats to reach them. Frequently 
 will a goat dash at a perpendicular face of rock the 
 side of which appeal's perfectly smooth, and springing 
 from point to point, will take advantage of the 
 smallest projection, until it reaches the summit in 
 safety. Sometimes it is seen perched upon the extreme 
 apex of a rocky peak, where there appears to be hardly 
 room for the four little feet that are drawn so closely 
 together. Sometimes the animal appears as if stuck 
 in some wonderful manner against the side of a rock, 
 and, were it not that the animal jumps about with per-
 
 GOATS, SHEEP, ETC. 347 
 
 feet qise, it might be supposed to be nailed there, for 
 no supports for its feet are perceptible. 
 
 Some of the goats are very useful to mankind. 
 The celebrated Cashmere shawls are made of the long 
 silky hair of the Thibetian goat. There was once an 
 idea of naturalizing that goat in England for the pur- 
 pose of shawl manufactures, but it was thought that 
 each goat furnished so little wool, that the expense 
 would have been greater than the gain, especially as 
 the carcass is worthless. The same may be said of 
 the Llama. Moreover, the wool of the Thibet goat 
 would certainly have deteriorated by the change to an- 
 other climate. 
 
 In many countries, large flocks of goats are kept, 
 but in England the goat is generally seen in stable- 
 yards. A few are kept for the sake of their milk, but 
 in general goats are not to be found save in stable- 
 yards and at watering places, in which latter locali- 
 ties they come out in great force, being ribbon-decked 
 as to their horns, and scarlet- robed as to their per- 
 sons, much to the delight of the juvenility who ride 
 in^the miniature carriages to which they are har- 
 nessed. 
 
 The goat can be rendered very tame, but is always 
 rather apt to give rather a severe blow with its horns 
 in pure play. The kids are very pretty little creatures, 
 as playful as kittens, and quite as graceful in their 
 way. The domesticated goat seems to care little for 
 a dog, but lowers its head if it apprehends an attack, 
 and assumes so determined an air, that few dogs will 
 attack it, and those who venture, generally receive so 
 severe a blow that they are rolled over and over in 
 the mud, and run howling away. A goat seems to 
 hurl itself at a dog, not by making a headlong rush 
 as a sheep does, but by rising on its hind legs, and 
 throwing itself head foremost at its adversary. 
 
 The female goat is a very agreeable animal, and so 
 are the kids of both sexes, but when a male kid be- 
 gins to advance in years, he is by no means so
 
 348 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 pleasant. In the first place, he gives forth a power- 
 ful odour, which is supposed by grooms to be benefi- 
 cial to horses, but is, to say the least, very disagreeable 
 to men ; and, in the second place, when he begins to 
 feel his strength he is much too fond of using it, par- 
 ticularly if he is rather stronger and larger than the 
 generality of his kind. 
 
 The he-goat is a most powerful animal for its size, 
 and sometimes presumes on its strength in a most 
 extraordinary manner, tyrannising over every weaker 
 animal in its way, and not unfrequently boldly opposing 
 even full-grown men. Of such a nature was the great 
 overgrown goat, of whose exploits William Howitt 
 speaks so feelingly. This ferocious animal was the 
 dread of the whole neighbourhood, particularly when 
 it happened to break bounds, and chose to play its 
 pranks in the village. On one of these occasions, it 
 was seen marching gravely down the village street, 
 which was immediately deserted by all the pas- 
 sengers, except a poor old woman, who was too feeble 
 to get out of his way. Of course, the goat (who 
 really seems to have been a hircine edition of the 
 redoubtable Cannon) immediately charged at her, and 
 knocked her down. The whole population was, of 
 course, greatly excited. The tailor shook his sleeve- 
 board at the formidable goat, the blacksmith wished 
 he had his big hammer at the goat's head, but as the 
 relator of the anecdote wickedly remarks, never 
 offered to take it there, all agreed that the brute 
 ought not be allowed to injure an old woman, but no 
 one liked to attack him. At last, one, more cou- 
 rageous than the rest, armed himself with a heavy 
 pole, and dealt the foe such a blow, as would most 
 certainly have broken the skull of any other animal 
 but a goat. The goat, however, instantly made such 
 a spring upon his assailant, that the pole was dashed 
 out of his hand, he was knocked flat on his back, 
 and the goat, mounting upon his prostrate foe, looked 
 round him in defiance. The poor man called loudly
 
 SHEEP. 349 
 
 for assistance, as did the old woman, who by this time, 
 had recovered her legs, but no one was bold enough 
 to venture on single combat with a foe of such 
 prowess. The strongest, however, have their weak- 
 nesses. The man who rules the world, is sometimes 
 ruled by his wife, and the general, who drove before 
 him a force ten times superior to his own, has fled in 
 dismay before a lady's pet cat. So in this instance, 
 there was one vulnerable point in the goat's constitu- 
 tion. Let but a child grasp his beard, and he became 
 instantly submissive. While he was thus domineering 
 over the whole village, a couple of men arrived in 
 search of the runaway, and one of them taking him 
 by his beard, the redoubtable conqueror was led off, 
 bleating in a most abject and submissive manner. 
 These outbreaks became so frequent, that he was at 
 last complained of as a nuisance, and condemned 
 to be shot. 
 
 Far different was the conduct of a beautiful Angora 
 goat, whose acquaintance I made during my child- 
 hood. The goat was as tame and gentle as a dog, 
 and would follow its friends about the garden, asking, 
 as plainly as eyes could ask, for the handful of corn 
 which generally fell to its share. It died long ago, 
 and its stuffed skin is now in the Ashmolean Museum, 
 at Oxford. 
 
 SHEEP. 
 
 I SAID lately that there were sheep and goats so 
 closely resembling each other, that they were hardly 
 distinguishable. We generally know a sheep by its 
 woolly fleece, If, however, we take one of our horned 
 sheep, carry it into the tropics, and keep it for several 
 years, we shall find that its wool will fall off, and 
 that long straight hair will supply its place, and that, 
 were it not for the curled horns, and the convex fore- 
 head, it would certainly be called a goat.
 
 350 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 Size is no criterion. We have sheep of all sizes 
 in England, but there is one sheep, the Argali, resi- 
 dent in the mountain-chains of central Asia, which 
 stands four feet high, and measures seven feet nine 
 inches, in length. Its horns are nearly four feet long, 
 and are nineteen inches in circumference at the base. 
 The males are very quarrelsome, and fight with such 
 fury, that even their powerful horns are sometimes 
 broken off, and in their hollow small animals take up 
 their residence. 
 
 This animal is not to be confounded with the Rocky 
 Mountain sheep, or " Bighorn, " of North America. 
 
 Our sheep may be separated into two great divisions, 
 the polled and the horned. These generally inhabit 
 different parts of England, and it not unfrequently 
 happens that a small stream forms the boundary 
 between the two descriptions of sheep, neither pas- 
 turing in the grounds occupied by the other. 
 
 The principal value in a sheep lies in its wool. 
 Let us then see what the wool is, and what makes it 
 so valuable. Wool consists of a number of fibres, of 
 a peculiar form, and possessing certain properties. 
 The most valuable of the properties is that of 
 " felting," a process said to have been discovered by 
 accident. A man, so it is said, was undertaking a 
 long journey on foot. Wishing, like the celebrated pil- 
 grim, " to walk a little more at ease," he stuffed some 
 wool into his shoes. His walk was not only long, 
 but wet, and when he came to his journey's end, and 
 took the wool out of his shoes, he found that the 
 continual kneading, which it had undergone, together 
 with the oft-repeated saturations which had taken 
 place, during his passage through boggy places, had 
 formed it into a substance like cloth, but without any 
 grain. This accidental invention was followed up, 
 and felt was the result. The substance "felt" is 
 manufactured in a way exactly similar to that em- 
 ployed by its first discoverer, although on a larger 
 scale. The wool is carefully cleansed, placed in
 
 SHEEP. 351 
 
 water, and kneaded together, until the fibres have 
 uniteu sufficiently. It is then "felt," and can he used 
 for any purpose to which the material is commonly 
 applied. The wool is prevented from felting while 
 on the sheep's back, by the position of the fibres and 
 by the natural grease with which it is furnished, so 
 that careful cleansing is necessary, before the wool will 
 felt. The principal use of felt, is to make hats, which 
 articles of dress are nearly invariably formed of felt 
 as a groundwork, sometimes decked with beaver hair, 
 oftener with that of the rabbit, frequently with silk, 
 and lastly, which is the best of all, are left without 
 any decoration at all, as in those most delightful of 
 hats, the wide-awake, as it is facetiously called, from 
 its want of nap. In order to make hats more im- 
 pervious to rain, and in order to make them stand 
 stiff on the head, so as to resemble a chimney-pot as 
 nearly as possible, both in colour and shape, the felt 
 is imbued with a solution of lac in spirits of wine; 
 the mixture is insoluble in water, and therefore 
 renders the hat waterproof. 
 
 The reason why the wool of the sheep " felts " can 
 be seen by placing a fibre under a good microscope. 
 It will then be seen to resemble a number of thimbles 
 with jagged edges, inserted into one another. The 
 fibres also contract by coming in contact with water. 
 When, then, the oily substances are removed from 
 the wool, water is enabled to act upon it, and when 
 bound together, the fibres contract upon each other, 
 and become so entangled with their jagged edges, that 
 they become a firm mass, which only requires to be 
 properly shaped, to be used for a variety of purposes. 
 This contracting property of wool is the reason why 
 flannel and other woollen substances shrink on first 
 washing. 
 
 Felting was supposed to be a comparatively recent 
 invention, but in accordance with the maxim, that 
 there is nothing new under the sun, a large quantity
 
 352 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 of felt was discovered upon the person of an Egyptian 
 mummy. 
 
 The felting property of wool is the reason why 
 cloth never unravels when cut. Almost any other 
 material, when woven, will unravel if cut, but cloth 
 still retains its integrity; even when worn into holes 
 it never unravels, although it is easily torn. 
 
 In some parts of the East, it is the custom to kill 
 lambs as soon as they are born, in order to secure a 
 fine material. Sometimes the mother sheep are 
 actually killed before the young is born. The skins 
 thus procured 'are dressed with the wool, and are 
 extensively used for the lining of winter garments. 
 
 The method that we employ to obtain the wool is 
 by shearing, but there was another method employed 
 in days gone by, called "rowing," in plain words, the 
 wool was torn off the backs of the poor animals by 
 .the hand, the sheep having been previously starved 
 for several days to make them weaker, hi the hope 
 that the wool would come off easier. This barbarous 
 custom was in use in Iceland and the Orkneys, but 
 is now, I believe, discontinued in both countries. 
 The Romans certainly used to employ this method of 
 obtaining wool, as is evident from their word signify- 
 ing wool, namely, " vellus," viz. a word derived from 
 " vellere," to pluck off. We have also the authority of 
 Pliny for asserting that in many parts of Italy, " row- 
 ing," not shearing, was the custom. 
 
 Tn the tune of the ancients, it was the cus- 
 tom to preserve the fleeces of the best breeds of 
 sheep by dressing them in leather jackets. Several 
 authorities mention this custom. 
 
 The quality of the wool depends materially on the 
 manner in which the sheep is fed, well-fed sheep 
 generally producing good and sound wool, while a 
 half-starved animal is sure to produce a weak and 
 "breachy" fibre. The filaments ought to be uni- 
 formly round, brilliant, and properly serrated. In
 
 SHEEP. 353 
 
 bad wool, there is often an interval of dry, shrivelled 
 material called a "breach." The " breach " cannot bear 
 the operation of the carding-comb, but is sure to 
 snap. Although the real character of the " breach " 
 can only be decided by the microscope, a practised 
 wool-comber will detect wool so affected, without hav- 
 ing recourse to any instruments. 
 
 We have long been accustomed to look upon the 
 sheep as a model of patience, mildness, and good- 
 temper. That is because we are naturally prone to 
 judge by the exterior. But, mild as the sheep may 
 look, there is a mine of mischief in them, and espe- 
 cially in the rams, who not unfrequently assault the 
 passer-by with the greatest ferocity ; and from the 
 thickness of the skull, the onset even of a hornless 
 ram is rather a formidable matter. An instance of 
 this nature occurred not long since, which not only 
 shows the fuiy and courage of the ram, but also a 
 method of conquering the animal. The story is as 
 follows : " Two gentlemen were fishing in one of the 
 Welsh streams, and in the course of their piscatorial 
 perambulations entered a field where there were some 
 sheep ; among them was an enormous ram with a 
 splendid pair of horns. The ram, after examining 
 the intruders for some time, made up his mind that 
 they were to be expelled from the field, and accord- 
 ingly charged full at one of them, and, when repulsed, 
 made a charge at the other stranger. So furious was 
 he, that the two fishermen, arming themselves with 
 the butt-ends of their rods, separated about ten paces, 
 so that when the ram charged at one, the other bela- 
 b(5ured him. This went on for some time, until the 
 ram was covered with blood, and, staggering under 
 the repeated blows that its forelegs had received, yet 
 he undauntedly continued his assaults, until his anta- 
 gonists could hardly wield their clubs from weariness, 
 and were actually forced to beat a retreat. 
 
 " Next day they saw another gentleman going to fish 
 in the same spot, and went to warn him of the ram. When 
 
 A A
 
 354 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 they neared the spot, they heard cries for help, and 
 found the gentleman kneeling on the ground with his 
 rod extended, much as a soldier places himself when 
 ready to resist cavalry. There was the ram, appa- 
 rently little the worse for his yesterday's encounter, 
 charging with the most determined ferocity. All 
 three then united in attacking the infuriated ram, but 
 with little success, as his fleece protected him from 
 side-blows, and his head was as invulnerable as that 
 of a brass battering-ram. Presently a farm-servant 
 came up, who told the three combatants to desist 
 from their attacks and he would manage the ram. 
 So saying, he proceeded to cut a slight flexible stick, 
 and walked up to the infuriated animal ; while the 
 three fishermen looked on in no small curiosity to 
 see how a single antagonist would vanquish a foe 
 that had driven two enemies out of the field, and 
 could not be overcome by three. The man, however, 
 did not seem troubled by any misgiving on the sub- 
 ject; but put himself in the way of the ram, who 
 instantly charged at his new antagonist. The man 
 stepped aside to let him pass, and as he rushed by, 
 twisted his stick between the horns of the ram, who 
 came to a stop, and seemed completely subdued by 
 this apparently inadequate weapon. His conqueror 
 then led him quietly out of the field, and locked him 
 up. 
 
 " In all probability the stick, together with the horns, 
 formed so powerful a leverage on the animal's head 
 that it could not move without incurring some injury." 
 
 The foregoing anecdote was communicated to me 
 not long since, and has already appeared in the form 
 of a note to my edition of White's "Selborne." 
 
 It is the custom of sheep, when alarmed, to gather 
 themselves into a body, placing the rams in front, 
 and the ewes and lambs behind. It is then rather 
 dangerous for any enemy to approach the phalanx ; 
 for the rams will spring forward and dash at their 
 opponent with all their power. The onset of the
 
 SHEEP. 355 
 
 ram is even more to be feared than that of the goat ; 
 for the ram not only springs upon its foe, as does the 
 goat, but rushes at him first, thus adding impetus to 
 weight. 
 
 On one occasion, a bull had alarmed a flock of 
 sheep ; they immediately formed the rallying square, 
 as a soldier would say, and calmly awaited his 
 attack. The moment that the bull had reached the 
 sheep, and had lowered his head, preparatory for an 
 assault, the fiercest rarn sprang forward, with such 
 sledge-hammer force against his skull, taking him just 
 between the horns, that the bull rolled senseless on 
 the ground. 
 
 An account of a similar reception is given by Mr. 
 Hall, when he unexpectedly found himself opposed to 
 a flock of hill-sheep. 
 
 " I was one day climbing the mountain of Belren- 
 nis. On reaching the top, I found myself in a cloud, 
 where I could not distinctly see any object at a dis- 
 tance of more than a few yards. As there was a fine 
 breeze, I hoped that the cloud would disperse ; and 
 although I felt exceedingly cold and hungry, I re- 
 solved to remain there a little while. While I was 
 walking about to keep myself warm, I perceived 
 something of an uncommon appearance at a little dis- 
 tance from me, and I approached it, not, indeed, 
 without fear. I found it to be a phalanx of sheep 
 drawn up on the top of the hill, and ready to defend 
 themselves against attack. They were arranged in a 
 kind of wedge, presenting its blunt end foremost. In 
 the middle of the line was a large ram, with a black fore- 
 head and a tremendous pair of horns. A number of 
 wether-ewes were in the rear, not one of them eating, 
 but looking sternly upon me. I was not at first 
 afraid, knowing them only to be sheep, and yet I 
 was not perfectly easy ; for if any fox appeared, they 
 might kill me in chasing him. 
 
 " These shedp had been sent into the mountain in 
 April or May, where the owners seldom look after 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 them until October. When they gather themselves 
 together at night, one of them is always placed at a little 
 distance as a sentinel. They never descend into the 
 valley at night, but, even in the most stormy wea- 
 ther, they are on the top of the hill, or on a rising 
 ground ; and if they are attacked by foxes or dogs, 
 their assailants rarely fail to pay for their temerity 
 with their lives. Seeing them, however, in this 
 warlike array, I began gradually to feel a little alarm ; 
 and, deeming discretion the better part of valour, I 
 slowly retired. -As the distance between us increased, 
 their line was neither so straight nor compact ; but 
 if I stopped and again advanced a few steps towards 
 them, they looked steadily at me, and formed their 
 line with greater precision and coolness ; and had I 
 attempted to attack them, I am convinced they would 
 have resisted. I had once a great mind to try ; but 
 I confess my courage failed me when I observed 
 them seemingly bending their knees in order to make 
 one simultaneous rush upon me." 
 
 Mr. Hall was quite right in his caution, as the 
 attack of a black-faced, big-horned ram would have 
 been anything but agreeable. It is not a very plea- 
 sant sensation, when the ribs stop a ball that an 
 expert batsman has hit to " leg ; " but the onslaught 
 of a cricket-ball is preferable to that of a ram, for 
 even putting aside the advantages of powerful horns 
 and thick forehead enjoyed by the ram, the cricket- 
 ball can hit but once, while the ram is likely to re- 
 turn to the charge ; and the superior weight of the 
 body will more than counterbalance the superior im- 
 petus of the ball. 
 
 But the ram, although formidable, is not always 
 victorious. There is a story still extant, whether 
 true or not is not quite clear, that a certain well- 
 known sportsman possessed a dog valuable in every 
 respect save one, viz. that he was too fond of mutton, 
 and could not be resti-ained from chasing and killing 
 sheep. The annoyance at last increased to such an
 
 SHEEP. 357 
 
 extent that a death-warrant was issued against him. 
 Just as the fatal mandate was about to be executed, 
 a friend came by, who, on hearing the case, recom- 
 mended a remedy, by whose potent means the dog 
 could be cured of sheep-murder without losing his 
 life. The infallible recipe was, that the dog should 
 be tied by a cord to the horns of an old and savage 
 ram, and that the two animals should be left in this 
 position until the ram, by continual buttings, had 
 effectually cured the dog of his liking for sheep's 
 flesh. 
 
 The experiment was accordingly tried, and a ram 
 noted for his pugnacity was lovingly coupled with 
 the dog, and the pair were shut up in a stable. Next 
 morning the owner went to release his poor dog from 
 the painful thraldom under which he had groaned all 
 the night, and was anxious to remove him from the 
 tyranny of the ram. But on opening the stable-door, 
 he found that he had indeed been guilty of the error 
 of enumerating his juvenile poultry before they were 
 emancipated from the egg-shell, for the dog was lying 
 very contentedly in the stable, and the ram was lying 
 down also, but with his throat torn across, and one of 
 his shoulders missing, which, from all external ap- 
 pearances, might have been discovered in the internal 
 economy of the dog. 
 
 The Oriental shepherds manage their sheep on a 
 different principle from ours. When we desire to 
 take a flock from one plain to another, we place our- 
 selves behind the flock, and drive them before us. The 
 Oriental shepherd, on the contrary, walks before his 
 sheep, and leads the way for them. 
 
 The business of a shepherd is not so easy as may 
 be supposed, a fact to which many can bear witness 
 who have left their counting-house or counter in Eng- 
 land to take a sheep-walk in distant lands. One very 
 necessary qualification of a shepherd is an equable 
 temper. A hasty man is nearly sure to injure his 
 stock by his want of patience, and after all will not
 
 358 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 do nearly as much work as the quiet, good-tempered 
 man, who walks from point to point, slowly and care- 
 fully in order to avoid disturbing the sheep, whose 
 voice is never heard raised in abuse of the poor ani- 
 mals if they happen to stray, and the bark of whose 
 dog is seldom required. " Lend me a bark ofyour 
 dog," said a bewildered shepherd to another whose 
 flock was pastured near. He would have acted better 
 had he done the work himself, and put the sheep in 
 the right way without terrifying them by the barking 
 of the dog. Not that I depreciate in any way the 
 useful qualities of the shepherd's dog : on the con- 
 trary, he is the very best ally that a shepherd can 
 have, and will frequently succeed in keeping the sheep 
 in order while his master would have been helpless ; 
 but the custom that some shepherds have of abusing 
 the sheep, and constantly sending the dog to make 
 inroads upon them, cannot be too much reprehended. 
 
 In many parts of the East each sheep has its name, 
 and will come when called, like a dog. But when the 
 flock becomes very large, such a proceeding is evi- 
 dently impracticable, and the shepherd then teaches 
 certain sheep to come when called ; when he wishes 
 to move his flock, he walks first, calling his tame 
 sheep. They follow him, and the rest of the flock, 
 according to their instinct, follow their companions. 
 
 To this instinct the shepherd can always trust, for 
 it is unfailing in its operation. Wherever the lead- 
 ing sheep may choose to go, there the flock are sure 
 to follow. Of this instinct there are many instances 
 on record, T some ludicrous, and some tragic. One 
 flock of sheep suffered the loss of more than a 
 hundred of its members, because one of them chose 
 to leap over a steep bank. This tragic event was only 
 an exhibition of the same instinct that caused a whole 
 flock of sheep to leap over an old man and a broom, 
 with which instrument he was attempting to stop 
 their progress. A shepherd was moving his flock 
 through some streets, and, as may be expected, found
 
 SHEEP. 359 
 
 considerable difficulty in guiding them through the in- 
 tricate windings of their urban existence. Finding 
 that the flock were about to turn down a wrong street, 
 he called out to a crossing-sweeper to keep them back. 
 The old man did what he could, running up and down 
 the line, and at last came to a halt before a very 
 obstinate sheep, and finding from its looks that it 
 was meditating a spring, grasped his broom in both 
 hands, and held it over his head. The sheep seems 
 to have taken this attitude as a challenge, for it in- 
 stantly sprang over the man, without touching his 
 broom, and was followed by the entire flock, the poor 
 man remaining in the same position as if petrified 
 with astonishment. Petrified or not, he appeared to 
 have taken the first step towards that process, for- he 
 was covered with mud spattered upon him by the 
 sheep. 
 
 The worst foe that the shepherd has to contend 
 against is the snow and cold in the winter months. 
 It is not only the mere snow and cold that is dreaded, 
 although they are formidable enough, but it is the 
 power of the wind that is the shepherd's chief dread. 
 The wind has a doubly injurious effect. In the first 
 place it carries off all the heat from the body, and 
 in fact causes the cold to have a more powerful effect 
 than would have been the case had the thermometer 
 been many degrees lower, provided that the wind 
 had lulled. It is said that even the cold of the 
 Polar regions, where mercury can be cast into bul- 
 lets merely by pouring it into a mould, and leaving 
 it in the open air, is not felt very severely, as long as 
 there is no wind. But immediately after the rising 
 of the wind, the cold pierces through the body, even 
 though defended by fourfold shields of wool and furs. 
 
 The second reason why the wind is so injurious is, 
 that it drives the snow into heaps, and sometimes 
 carries it along in such large masses, that a small 
 party of sheep is soon buried under the cloud of 
 flakes, and even men do not always escape unhurt.
 
 360 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 As an example of the effects of a regular snow-storm, 
 I will quote a passage from the writings of Kohl, a 
 German traveller, to whom the account was given by 
 one of the men who were engaged at the time. 
 
 " We were once grazing the ottara of a rich Bul- 
 garian. It is in the steppe of Otshakoff, and there were 
 seven of us, with two thousand sheep anel a hundred 
 and fifty goats. The month was March, and we had 
 just driven out for the first time. The weather seemed 
 mild, and there was some grass already on the ground, 
 so that we deemed of no mishap. In the evening 
 it began to rain', and the wind was bitter cold. Soon 
 the rain turned to snow, and our wet cloaks were 
 frozen as hard as boards. A few hours after sunset 
 we had a regular Siberian vynaga (snowdrift), from the 
 north-east, whistling about our ears, till seeing and 
 hearing became equally impossible. We had not got 
 far from home yet, so we tried to find our way back, 
 but it was impossible to make the sheep face the 
 wind ; and even the goats, who will face anything but 
 a vynaya, were beginning to run before the storm. To 
 keep the flock from scampering away was impossible; 
 all we could attempt was at least to keep them to- 
 gether. In this way we had to race it all night, 
 and in the morning nothing but snow was to be seen 
 around us. 
 
 " The vynaga raged all that day, and the poor sheep 
 were even more wild and frightened than during 
 the night. Sometimes we gave up all as lost, but 
 then we roused ourselves again, and ran with the 
 scampering, bleating flock, while the oxen trotted after 
 with the waggon, and the dogs came howling behind. 
 The very first day, on which we ran at least fifty 
 versts, the poor goats were all lost or frozen to death ; 
 the very next day, on which we ran at least fifty or 
 sixty versts (a verst is about three fourths of an Eng- 
 lish mile), we left a track of dead sheep behind us 
 the whole way. In the evening the poor beasts ran 
 less wildly, for they were fairly exhausted with hunger
 
 SHEEP. 361 
 
 and fatigue. We were also knocked up. Two of 
 our p'arty reported themselves sick, and crept under 
 the mats and skins in the waggon, while the rest of 
 us had only time to take a little bread and snow to 
 sustain life. 
 
 "Night came on, but no house or home was any- 
 where to be seen, for the Otshakoff steppe is one of 
 the wildest countries in the world. That night was 
 worse than the first, and as we knew the storm was 
 driving us right upon the coast, we expected every 
 moment to be blown, with all our stupid flock, into the 
 sea. Another of our men fell sick, so we packed him 
 in the waggon along with the rest. We all thought 
 that night would have been our last. Towards morn- 
 ing the wind fortunately shifted about, and drove us 
 towards some houses, that we were able to see through 
 the drifting snow ; but though they were not more 
 than thirty feet from us, it was impossible to make 
 the foolish sheep turn aside. On they went right 
 before the wind, in spite of all we could do, and we 
 soon lost sight of the houses ; but the good people 
 had heard the howling of our dogs, and guessed what 
 was the matter : they were German colonists, and 
 some fifteen or twenty of them came to our help, and 
 then we managed to stop the sheep, and drive them 
 under the sheds and in the houses. 
 
 " We had lost all our goats, and about five hundred 
 of our sheep, but many of the poor things died after 
 we got them under the shelter, for in their fright they 
 kept so close that many of them were smothered. 
 We thanked God and the good Germans for our 
 safety, for half a verst further we should have come 
 to .the coast, rising twenty fathoms high above the 
 sea. The Germans did all they could to make us and 
 our sick men comfortable; but some of us were a 
 long time before we recovered from the effects of the 
 bout." 
 
 The adventure was perilous enough, but there are 
 many Scotch shepherds who could narrate incidents
 
 362 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 quite as perilous as those described by Kohl. Some- 
 times several hundred sheep become imbedded in 
 one drift. The reason is this : the sheep, on feeling the 
 cold blast, naturally fly for shelter to the first place that 
 seems likely to guard them from the drifting snow. 
 Their sheltering-place serves as a defence for some 
 time, but at last comes a severer blast than usual, 
 which drives into the air all the snow that had ac- 
 cumulated on the windward of the sheltering place, 
 and throws it in a mass on the sheep at the opposite 
 side, sometimes burying them between eight and 
 ten feet deep beneath the surface. The sheep are not, 
 as might be imagined, immediately suffocated, for 
 the snow is very porous, and admits sufficient air to 
 support life. The heat of their bodies also seems to 
 melt the snow round them, and gives them room to 
 move about a little. When many sheep are thus im- 
 prisoned in a snowy dungeon, the united heat that 
 is given out melts a comparatively large space, wherein 
 the sheep can even walk. Their locality is much warmer 
 than any ordinary place of shelter could have been, and 
 were it not that hunger lays its grasping hand upon 
 them, and causes them to nibble the wool from their 
 neighbours' backs, they would have no uncomfortable 
 residence. 
 
 Sheep thus found are frequently rescued by the 
 owner, and either are discovered by means of dogs 
 trained purposely, or by means of poles, which they 
 thrust into each drift. A practised " prodder " will be 
 able to distinguish the body of a sheep from other sub- 
 stances, even from the heath or mountain moss. 
 
 The diseases to which sheep are liable are innu- 
 merable, and it requires the greatest care to guard 
 against them. The quality of the air and the food 
 are the two principal causes of disease. The foot-rot 
 is one of the greatest plagues to the shepherd. It is 
 mostly caused by damp pasturage, which softens the 
 hoof at the same time that it promotes the growth 01 
 the substance. The unfortunate sheep that is afflicted
 
 SHEEP. 363 
 
 with {his disease cannot walk, but drags itself along 
 on its knees. 
 
 I once saw a lamb thus afflicted that had fallen into a 
 dry ditch, and replaced it in the meadow. After some 
 days the little animal had eaten itself a long passage 
 through the tall grass, just as if a path had been cut. 
 What became of it afterwards I do not know, although 
 its general health was much improved, as when it 
 was first found in the ditch, it had hardly sufficient 
 strength to raise its head from the ground. Some- 
 times when a sheep is in this state, a companion at- 
 taches itself to it, and attends to it during its illness. 
 
 There is another evil with which sheep are often 
 afflicted : this is the " turnsick," as the shepherds call 
 it ; in reality it is the presence of hydatids in the 
 brain. Hydatids are singular substances, belonging 
 to the Entozoa. They are certainly living creatures, but 
 their life is of a very restricted kind, for they consist 
 only of a membrane, filled with a wateiy substance. 
 That which is found in the brain of sheep is called 
 " Polyceplialus ovinus." How it gets there no one 
 knows; it is sufficient to know that it does form 
 within the animal's brain. These substances, by 
 pressing against various parts of the brain, according 
 to their situation, disorder its action, and force the 
 afflicted animal to go through the most extraordinary 
 movements. 
 
 There is a report hi the " Lancet " of a sheep af- 
 flicted with this evil, Avhich was brought to a veteri- 
 nary surgeon. He removed a portion of the skull, in 
 order to extract the hydatid, and after he had done so, 
 he found that almost the whole of the brain was 
 wanting. He was actually able to let down a wax- 
 light into the cavity, and to examine the amount of 
 mischief. The sheep, when released from the opera- 
 tion, got up and fed as usual, but on the fourth day 
 after the operation it died. On examination, it was 
 found that a mere shell of brain remained adhering to 
 the base of the skull, and here and there to the sides,
 
 364 ANECDOTES OP ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 so that there was not even a perfect shell of brain left. 
 What say the phrenologists ? 
 
 These hydatids are found in almost all animals. 
 I have seen removed from the body of a monkey four 
 cysts, the smallest as large as a man's fist, and the 
 largest nearly the size of a child's head. The monkey 
 was not a large one, and the cysts had usurped the 
 place of other organs. The two large ones were in 
 the cavity of the abdomen, and the others in the 
 cavity of the chest, having pushed the heart quite 
 out of its plade, enveloped the greater part of one 
 lung, and squeezed the other against the ribs. The 
 former owner of the monkey thought that the animal 
 had over-eaten itself, as the abdomen was so dis- 
 tended and hard ; whereas the poor creature, as may 
 be expected, presented an emaciated appearance. 
 
 How the creature could have lived at all under such 
 a disarrangement of the vital organs is a mystery. 
 On examination with the microscope, the hydatid was 
 found to belong to the genus Echinococcus. 
 
 The love that a sheep bears to its young is very 
 great, that is, while they are young ; as, in accordance 
 with that instinct implanted in brute animals, she 
 casts them off as soon as they are able to provide for 
 themselves. 
 
 Sheep are little inferior to the goats in activity among 
 rocks and precipitous places. Even in the rocky parts 
 of Derbyshire, and the steep Wiltshire Downs, they 
 exhibit their climbing and leaping propensities ; but 
 they are not seen to advantage, except in those coun- 
 tries where shepherds heed them not, and where they 
 are never confined by the walls of a fold, but wander 
 where they will from their birth. Such sheep are 
 well described by Curzon in the following words: 
 " The method employed to hunt this sheep is to 
 climb to the highest summit of a mountain, and then 
 cautiously approaching the edges of the cliffs, to peep 
 down with a telescope into the gorges and ravines be- 
 low, where, if you have luck, you may see the sheep
 
 
 SHEEP. 365 
 
 capering about on the ledges of the precipices, jump- 
 ing, standing on a stone on their hind legs to reach 
 a little tuft of herbage, and playing the most curious 
 antics, for no perceptible reason, unless it is that they 
 find their digestion improved by taking a great deal 
 of exercise. In these gymnastics, the hunter must 
 participate to a great extent in following the tracks of 
 the jumpingest creatures (excepting fleas) that he can 
 ever have to deal with. It requires much activity, and 
 a good head for looking over a height, to attempt 
 to come up with them ; and many a sad accident 
 has occurred to the adventurous sportsman in this 
 pursuit. I myself have been in some awkward situa- 
 tions once particularly, having let myself down by 
 the roots of a kind of juniper, on to the ledge of a 
 precipice, I found there was no way further down, 
 and, what was of more consequence, no way up 
 again ; for the roots of the stunted tree were above 
 my reach. A hunter a Laz, or a native of Lazis- 
 taun was with me ; and when we had done watching 
 the sheep scampering out of shot below, we looked 
 at the place we were on, and then in each other's 
 faces in blank dismay. We were in the same scrape 
 as the Emperor Maximilian got into in the Tyrol, near 
 , only there being no angels about in the moun- 
 tains of Lazistaun, we had no expectation of being 
 assisted by a spirited or spiritual goatherd, as he was. 
 " After a good deal of pantomime, which would have 
 puzzled any bird who might be wondering at our ma- 
 noeuvres for we did not understand each other's 
 language we took off our boots, all our outer 
 clothes, and our arms and rifles, and tied them up in 
 a bundle ; then I planted myself firmly with my face 
 to the wall of the cliff, sticking my rifle into a crevice 
 to give me more steadiness, and the hunter climbed 
 carefully up my back on to my shoulders, till he got 
 hold of the roots of the tree ; the tree shook, and 
 plenty of stones and dirt fell upon rny head, while 
 the hunter scrambled into the trunk, and he was safe.
 
 000 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 He sat down awhile to rest, and then hauled up the 
 clothes and guns with our shawls that we had taken 
 off from round our waists. A gentle qualm came 
 over me at this moment, for fear he should be off 
 with my to him very valuable spoils, and leave me in 
 peace upon the shelf. But he was a true man, as a 
 hunter generally is ; so after a variety of signs and 
 gesticulations to each other, as to how it was to be 
 done, he lugged me up, first by the shawls and then 
 by hand, until I could reach the roots of the tree. 
 Here there was" only room for one, so he climbed 
 higher ; and after some wonderful positions, struggles, 
 kicks, and scrambling, I got back amongst the roots, 
 then up the trunk of the old gnarled juniper, or 
 whatever it was, and at last upon a slope, partaking 
 much of that character which, in the States of the 
 free and independent slave-dealers over the water, is 
 called slantendicular. Here we both lay down." 
 
 I conclude this history of the sheep with an account 
 of its natural love. Mr. Hogg is the narrator. 
 
 A very affecting example of the attachment of 
 the sheep to its young is told by the Ettrick Shep- 
 herd : " I requested of my master to spare me a lamb 
 for a ewe which he knew, and which was standing over 
 a dead lamb in the end of the Hope, about four miles 
 from the house. He would not let me do it, but bid 
 me let her stand over her lamb for a day or two, and 
 perhaps a twin would be forthcoming. I did so ; and 
 faithfully did she stand to her charge. I visited her 
 every morning and evening for the first eight days, 
 and never found her above two or three yards from 
 the lamb, and often as I went my rounds she eyed 
 me long ere I carne near her, and kept stamping with 
 her foot, and whistling through her nose, to frighten 
 the dog away. He got a regular chase twice a day, 
 but, however excited and fierce an ewe may be, she 
 never offers any resistance to mankind, being perfectly 
 and meekly passive to them. The weather was fine 
 and warm, and the dead lamb soon decayed ; but still
 
 GIRAFFE. 367 
 
 this affectionate and resolute creature kepthanging over 
 the poor remains with an attachment that seemed to 
 be nourished by hopelessness. It often drew tears 
 from my eyes to see her hanging with such fond- 
 ness over a few bones, mixed with a small portion of 
 wool. For the first fortnight she never quitted the 
 spot, and for another week she visited it every morn- 
 ing and evening, uttering a few kindly and heart- 
 piercing bleats, till at length every remnant of the 
 offspring vanished, mixing with the soil, or wafted 
 away by the winds." 
 
 GIRAFFE*. 
 
 HAVING wandered from the Pachydermata, let us return 
 to them again, commencing with one of whose pachy- 
 dermatousness, if we may coin such a word, there is 
 no doubt. This is the Giraffe, whose hide is more 
 than an inch in thickness. 
 
 The appearance of the animal is so singular, that 
 we do not wonder at the sceptics of the last age re- 
 jecting its very existence, or the still stranger cre- 
 dulity of the earlier ages, when men were not contented 
 with accepting the accounts of the animal, but also 
 believed that its father was a leopard, and its mother 
 a camel. Some men went further, and gave it a more 
 complicated composition. " The Giraffa, or Camelo- 
 pardalis," says Leo, " a beast not often seen, yet very 
 tame, and of a strange composition, mixed of a libard 
 (leopard), hart, buffe (buffalo), and camell." 
 
 But even the present sceptical age, which believes 
 nothing that it has not seen, is convinced ; for there are 
 many specimens of the animal now alive in England, 
 and the Giraffe is as familiar to most men as the cow. 
 
 Enormous in size as this animal is, it can conceal 
 itself so effectually by means of the lofty trees among 
 which it dwells, that none but a practised eye can dis- 
 cern it, and as will be seen from the latter part of the 
 
 * Camelopardalis Giraffa.
 
 368 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 following extract from Gumming, even the eye of the 
 native is sometimes at a loss. The account of an 
 eyewitness is always to he preferred to that of one 
 who has only heard of the object. I shall, therefore, 
 give the words in which an eyewitness describes the 
 appearance of this animal in its native wilds. 
 
 " These gigantic and exquisitely beautiful animals, 
 which are admirably formed by Nature to adorn the 
 forests that clothe the boundless plains of the interior, 
 are widely distributed throughout the interior of 
 Southern Africa, but are nowhere to be met with in 
 great numbers. In countries unmolested by the in- 
 trusive foot of man, the Giraffe is found generally in 
 herds varying from twelve to sixteen ; but I have not 
 unfrequently met with herds containing thirty indi- 
 viduals, and on one occasion I counted forty together ; 
 this, however, was owing to chance, and about sixteen 
 may be reckoned as the average number of a herd. 
 These herds are composed of Giraffes of various 
 sizes, from the young Giraffe of nine or ten feet in 
 height, to the dark chestnut-coloured old bull of the 
 herd, whose exalted head towers above his com- 
 panions, generally attaining to a height of upwards 
 of eighteen feet. The females are of lower stature, 
 and more delicately formed than the males, their 
 height averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet. 
 
 " Some writers have discovered ugliness and a wantoi 
 grace in the Giraffe, but I consider that he is one ot 
 the most strikingly beautiful animals in the creation, 
 and when a herd of them is seen scattered through a 
 grove of the picturesque parasol-topped acacias which 
 adorn their native plains, and on whose uppermost 
 shoots they are enabled to browse by the colossal 
 height with which Nature has so admirably endowed 
 them, he must indeed be slow of conception who 
 fails to discover both grace and dignity in all their 
 movements. There can be no doubt that every ani- 
 mal is seen to the greatest advantage in the haunts 
 which nature designed him to adorn, and among the
 
 GIRAFFE. 369 
 
 various living creatures which heautify creation. I 
 have often traced a remarkable resemblance between 
 the animal and the general appearance of the locality 
 in which it is found. * 
 
 " In the case of the Giraffe, which is invariably met 
 with among venerable forests, where innumerable 
 blasted and weather-beaten trunks and stems occur, 
 I have repeatedly been in doubt as to the presence of 
 them until I had recourse to my spy-glass ; and on 
 referring the case to my savage attendants, I have 
 known even their practised optics to fail, at one time 
 mistaking their dilapidated trunks for cameleopards, 
 and again confounding real cameleopards with these 
 aged veterans of the forest." 
 
 The entire structure of the head and its organs is 
 very singular, and well worthy of notice. The most 
 conspicuous objects on the head are the two horns, 
 as they are called. These horns are utterly unlike 
 those of other animals. They are not hollow, like 
 those of the oxen and ovine race ; they are not de- 
 ciduous and bony, like those of the deer, but they are 
 projections from the skull of the animal, composed of 
 true bone, and cemented to the skull by distinctly- 
 marked sutures, which can be easily separated, espe- 
 cially when the animal is young. These horns are 
 covered with skin, and surrounded with a ring of hair 
 at their tips, leaving the centre bare. There is also 
 a third bone, comparatively small, and situated in the 
 centre of the forehead. Its osteological formation is 
 exactly the same as that of the other two, but it never 
 attains any great length, and, being covered by skin, 
 merely appears like a protuberance on the forehead. 
 Some writers have considered that this bone is a 
 proof that the Unicorn may be a real animal after 
 all, bearing a similar horn on its head. 
 
 The eyes are very prominent, and stand out so far 
 from the head, that the animal can see objects behind 
 it. It is doubtless endued with this property, to avoid 
 * See p. 4. 
 
 B B
 
 370 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 those powerful animals which, together with it, in- 
 habit the African plains. 
 
 The tongue answers almost the same purpose as 
 does the trunk of the elephant, for with it the ani- 
 mal can pull down small branches, pluck off leaves, 
 take a piece of bread from the hand, roll up a wisp of 
 grass, or pick up a piece of sugar from the ground. It 
 is said that the Giraffe possesses so complete a power 
 over this organ that it can contract the tip sufficient to 
 pass it into the pipe of an ordinary key. The tongue 
 is not only flexible but powerful, and is sometimes 
 put to rather unexpected uses by tame giraffes. 
 
 Professor Owen, who has carefully examined the 
 structure of the tongue, has given the following ac- 
 count, which may be found in the Transactions of the 
 Zoological Society. 
 
 " I have observed all the movements of the tongue, 
 which have been described by previous authors. The 
 giraffe, being endowed with an organ so exquisitely 
 formed for prehension, instinctively puts it to use in 
 a variety of ways, while in a state of confinement. 
 The female in the Garden of Plants, at Paris, for ex- 
 ample, may frequently be observed to amuse itself by 
 stretching upwards its neck and head, and with the 
 slender tongue pulling out the straws which are 
 planted into the partition separating it from the con- 
 tiguous compartments of its inclosure. In our own 
 menagerie many a fair lady has been robbed of the 
 artificial flower which adorned her bonnet, by the 
 nimble filching tongue of the object of her admira- 
 tion. The giraffe seems, indeed, to be guided more 
 by the eye than the nose in the selection of objects 
 of food ; and if we may judge of the apparent satis- 
 faction with which the mock leaves and flowers so 
 obtained are masticated, the tongue would seem by 
 no means to enjoy the sensitive in the same degree 
 as the motive powers. The giraffes have a habit, in 
 captivity at least, of plucking the hairs out of each 
 other's manes and tails, and swallowing them. I
 
 GIRAFFE. 371 
 
 know not whether we must attiibute to a fondness for 
 epidermic productions, or to the tempting green 
 colour of the parts, the following ludicrous circum- 
 stance, which happened to a fine peacock which was 
 kept in the giraffe's paddock. As the bird was 
 spreading his tail in the sunbeams, and curvetting in 
 presence of his mate, one of the giraffes stooped 
 his long neck, and,entwining his flexible tongue round 
 a bunch of the gaudy plumes, suddenly lifted the 
 bird into the air, then giving him a shake, disengaged 
 five or six of the tail feathers, when down fluttered 
 the astonished peacock, and scuffled off with the re- 
 mains of his train dragging humbly after him." 
 
 Those interesting animals, now in the gardens of 
 the Zoological Society, will frequently make use of 
 their tongues to take their favourite dainty, a lump of 
 sugar, from the hands of visitors, who always will 
 feed them, in spite of the printed notice to the contrary. 
 When they eat grass they treat it as we do asparagus, 
 viz. they bite off all the soft green part, and reject 
 the tough coarse stem. 
 
 Although a blow from the horns would be very 
 severe, as the head would naturally swing violently 
 against any object that is struck, the giraffe does not 
 appear to use these weapons in actual conflict, at all 
 events if it is opposed to dangerous foes, like the 
 lion. When two giraffes fight between themselves they 
 stand side by side, and strike violent blows with 
 their horns, which can tear off the skin when used 
 vigorously ; but when the lion comes to attack the 
 giraffe, it is too wise to place its head within the reach 
 of the lion, who with a single blow from his iron- 
 sinewed paw would lay the animal senseless. When, 
 therefore, the giraffe feels itself opposed to such a foe 
 as the lion, its defence consists in rapid kicks, ad- 
 ministered with great precision, and with such rapidity, 
 that the eye can scarcely follow them. A blow from 
 limbs which can carry such an enormous weight over 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 rocky passes, would be likely to demolish the lion 
 if it took full effect. 
 
 The lion, according to the accounts of the natives, 
 is not always to be driven off by its formidable 
 kicks, but watches his opportunity to spring on the 
 back of the giraffe, and never relaxes his hold until 
 his prey sinks to the earth from the mingled effect of 
 fear and loss of blood. 
 
 At first sight the fore-legs of the Giraffe appear to be 
 much longer than the hinder pair. Such, however, is 
 not the case, as the apparent difference is caused by 
 the great length of the shoulder-blades, from which 
 the back of the animal slopes to the haunches. Both 
 pairs of legs are of equal length. 
 
 The construction of the giraffe is such that it is 
 forced to straddle widely with its fore legs before it 
 can reach a small object placed on the ground. This 
 characteristic attitude is copied in the Prtenestine 
 pavement. This work of art being attributed to 
 Sylla, is a proof that the ancients were aware of the 
 existence of the animal. There is also a figure of 
 the giraffe, copied by Rosellini, found in Egypt, where 
 are represented two men leading a very well-drown 
 giraffe by cords attached to its fore-legs. Running 
 up the neck of the giraffe is a lusus natura, in the 
 shape of a monkey of a vivid green colour, agreeably 
 set off by a pink countenance. 
 
 Our knowledge of the character of this animal is 
 either derived from tame specimens, or from the ac- 
 count of its behaviour when being hunted. We have 
 already seen something of its character in a state of 
 domestication ; let us now peruse an account of the 
 manner in which the animal demeans itself while it 
 is being chased by an unknown foe. 
 
 " It was on the morning of our departure from the 
 residence of his Amazoola Majesty, that I first actu- 
 ally saw the giraffe. Although I had been for weeks 
 on the tip-toe of expectation, we had hitherto sue-
 
 GIRAFFE. 373 
 
 ceeded in finding the gigantic footsteps only of the 
 tallest of all quadrupeds upon the earth, but at dawn 
 of that day, a large party of hungry savages, with 
 four of the Hottentots on horseback, having accom- 
 panied us across the Mariqua, in search of elands 
 which were reported to be numerous in the neigh- 
 bourhood, we formed a long line and, having drawn 
 a great extent of country blank, divided into two 
 parties, Kichardson keeping to the right, and myself 
 to the left. Beginning at length to despair of success, 
 I had shot a harte-beeste for the savages, when an 
 object, which had repeatedly attracted my eye, but 
 which I had as often persuaded myself was nothing 
 more than the branchless stump of some withered 
 tree, suddenly shifted its f position, and the next 
 moment 1 distinctly perceived that singular form, of 
 which the apparition had oftimes visited my slumbers, 
 but upon whose reality I now gazed for the first time. 
 " Gliding rapidly among the trees, above the top- 
 most branches of many of which its graceful head 
 nodded like some lofty pine, all doubt was in another 
 moment at an end it was the stately, the long- 
 sought giraffe, and putting spurs to my horse, and 
 directing the Hottentots to follow, I presently found 
 myself half choked with excitement, rattling at the 
 heels of an animal which to me had been a stranger 
 even in its captive state, and which thus to meet free 
 on its native plains has fallen to the lot of but few of 
 the votaries of the chase ; sailing before me with in- 
 credible velocity, his long swan-like neck keeping 
 time to the eccentric motion of his stilt-like legs his 
 ample black tail curled above his back, and whisking 
 in ludicrous concert with the rocking of his dispropor- 
 tioned frame, he glided gallantly along like some 
 tall ship upon the ocean's bosom, and seemed to 
 leave whole leagues behind him at each stride. The 
 ground was of the most treacherous description ; a 
 rotten black soil, overgrown with long coarse grass, 
 which concealed from view innumerable gaping fis-
 
 374 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 sures, that momentarily threatened to bring down my 
 horse. 
 
 " For the first five minutes, I rather lost than gained 
 ground, and despairing, over such a country, of ever 
 diminishing the distance, or improving my acquaint- 
 ance with this ogre in seven-league boots, I dis- 
 mounted, and the mottled carcass presenting a fair 
 and inviting mark, I had the satisfaction of hearing 
 two balls tell roundly upon his plank-like stern. But 
 as well might I have fired at a wall ; he neither 
 swerved from his course, nor slackened his pace, and 
 pushed on so far ahead during the time I was reload- 
 ing, that, after remounting, I had some difficulty in 
 even keeping sight of him amongst the trees. Closing 
 again, however, I repeated the dose on the other quar- 
 ter, and spurred my horse along, ever and anon sinking 
 to his fetlock ; the giraffe now flagging at each stride, 
 until, as I was coming up hand over hand, and 
 success seemed certain, the cup was suddenly dashed 
 from my lips, and down I came headlong, my horse 
 having fallen into a pit, and lodged me close to an 
 ostrich's nest, near which two of the old birds were 
 sitting. 
 
 " Happily, there were no bones broken, but the 
 violence of the shock had caused the lashings of 
 my previously-broken rifle to give way, and had 
 doubled the stock in half, the barrels only hanging 
 to the wood by the trigger-guard. Nothing dismayed, 
 however, by this heavy calamity, I remounted my 
 jaded beast, and one more effort brought me ahead 
 of my wearied victim, which stood still, and allowed 
 me to approach. In vain did I now attempt to bind 
 my fractured rifle with a pocket-handkerchief, in 
 order to admit of my administering the coup de grace. 
 The guard was so contracted, that, as in the tan- 
 talising phantasies of a night-mare, the hammer 
 could not by any means be brought down upon the 
 nipple. In vain I looked around for a stone, and 
 sought in every pocket for my knife, with which either
 
 GIEAFFE. 6 I 
 
 to strike the copper cap, and bring about ignition, or 
 hamstring the colossal but harmless animal, by 
 whose towering side I appeared the veriest pigmy 
 in the creation. Alas ! I had lent it to the Hottentots 
 to cut off the head of the harte-beeste, and, after a 
 hopeless search in the remotest corners, each hand 
 was withdrawn empty. 
 
 " Vainly did I then wait for the tardy and rebellious 
 villains to come to my assistance, making the wel- 
 kin ring, and my throat tingle with reiterated shouts. 
 Not a soul appeared, and in a few minutes the 
 giraffe, having recovered his wind, and being only 
 slightly wounded on the hind-quarters, shuffled his 
 long legs, twisted his bushy tail over his back, walked 
 a few steps, then broke into a gallop, and diving into 
 the mazes of the forest, presently disappeared from 
 my sight. Disappointed and annoyed at my discom- 
 fiture, I returned towards the waggons, now eight 
 miles distant ; and on my way overtook the Hotten- 
 tots, who, pipe in mouth, were leisurely strolling 
 home, with an air of total indifference as to my pro- 
 ceedings, having come to the conclusion that ' Sir 
 could not fung de kameel' (catch the giraffe), for which 
 reason they did not think it worth while to follow me 
 as I had directed." 
 
 The preceding account is taken from Harris, whose 
 work 011 the wild animals of South Africa will repay 
 a careful perusal. 
 
 Every one must sympathise with the eager sports- 
 man in his disappointment in losing s6 magnificent 
 a prey, and especially as the laziness of the servant 
 was probably the cause of the animal actually es- 
 caping him. However, his efforts were at last 
 crowned with success, as will be seen from his 
 narrative. 
 
 "Notwithstanding that I had taken the field ex- 
 pressly to look for giraffes, and in consequence of 
 several of the remarkable spoors* of these animals 
 * Footprints.
 
 376 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 having been seen on the evening before, had taken 
 four mounted Hottentots in my suite, all excepting 
 Piet, who had, as usual, slipped off unperceived in 
 pursuit of a troop of Koodoos. Our stealthy approach 
 was soon opposed by an ill-tempered rhinoceros, 
 which, with her ugly old-fashioned calf, stood directly 
 in the path, and the twinkling of her bright little eyes, 
 accompanied by a restless rolling of the body, giving 
 earnest of her mischievous intentions, I directed Piet 
 to salute her with a broadside, at the same time put- 
 ting spurs to my horse. 
 
 "At the report of the gun, and sudden clattering of 
 the hoofs, away bounded the herd in grotesque confu- 
 sion, clearing the ground by a succession of frog-like 
 leaps, and leaving me far in their rear. Twice were 
 their towering forms concealed from view by a park of 
 trees, which we entered almost at the same moment, 
 and twice, on emerging from the labyrinth, did I per- 
 ceive them tilting over an eminence far in advance, 
 their sloping backs reddening in the sunshine, as with 
 giant port they lopped the ridges in right gallant style, 
 a white turban which I wore round my hunting-cap, 
 being dragged off by a projecting bough, was instantly 
 charged and trampled under foot by three rhino- 
 ceroses, and long afterwards, looking over my 
 shoulder, I could perceive the ungainly brutes in the 
 rear fagging themselves to overtake me. 
 
 " In the course of a few minutes, the fugitives ar- 
 rived at a small river, the treacherous sands receiving 
 their spider legs, their flight was greatly retarded, and 
 by the time they had floundered to the opposite side, 
 and scrambled to the top of the bank, I could perceive 
 that their race was run. Patting the . steaming neck 
 of my good steed, I urged him again to his utmost, 
 and instantly found myself by the side of the herd. 
 The lordly chief being readily distinguishable from 
 the rest of the herd by his dark chestnut robe, and 
 superior stature, I applied the muzzle of my rifle 
 behind his dappled shoulder with my right hand, and
 
 GIRAFFE. 377 
 
 drew both triggers ; but he still continued to shuffle 
 along, and being afraid of losing him if I should 
 dismount among the extensive marshes and groves 
 with which the landscape was now obscured, I sat on 
 my saddle, loading and firing behind the elbow, and 
 then placing myself across his path to obstruct his 
 progress. 
 
 "Mute, dignified, and majestic, stood the unfortunate 
 victim, occasionally stooping his elastic neck towards 
 his persecutor, the tears trickling from the lashes of 
 his dark humid eye, as broadside after broadside was 
 poured into his brawny front. 
 
 b ' His drooping head sinks gradually low, 
 
 And through his side the last drops ebbing flow, 
 From the red gash fall heavy one by one, 
 Like the first of a thunder shower.' 
 
 " Presently a convulsive shivering seized his limbs, 
 his coat stood on end, his lofty frame began to totter, 
 and at the seventeenth discharge from the deadly 
 grooved bore, like a falling minaret, bowing his 
 graceful head from the skies, his proud form was 
 prostrate in the dust. Never shall I forget the in- 
 toxicating excitement of that moment ! At last, then, 
 the summit of my ambition was actually attained, 
 and the towering giraffe laid low ! Tossing my tur- 
 banless cap into the air, alone in the wild wood, I 
 burned with bursting exultation, and unsaddling my 
 steed, sank, exhausted with delight, beside the noble 
 prize that I had won. 
 
 " While I leisurely contemplated the massive form 
 before me, seeming as though it had been cast in a 
 mould of brass, and wrapped in a hide an inch and a 
 half in thickness, it was no longer matter of asto- 
 nishment that a bullet discharged from a distance of 
 eighty or ninety yards, should have been attended 
 with little effect before such amazing strength. 
 
 " So he did ' fung de kameel ' after all." 
 
 Like others of the cervine race, the flesh of the 
 giraffe is scented with the herbage on which it feeds.
 
 378 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 When the giraffe is hunted on rocky ground, it 
 springs forward with a succession of frog-like hops ; 
 but when at its ease, upon level ground, its usual 
 mode of progression is like that of an ambling horse, 
 that is, it moves both its legs on the same side at 
 one tune. The elephant, camel, and one or two 
 other animals use the same step. 
 
 I may mention, that it is the opinion of many 
 commentators, that the giraffe is the animal intended 
 by the Hebrew word zemer, which our version trans- 
 lates " chamois:" One reason for this belief is, that 
 the chamois was not known so far southward as 
 Egypt and Palestine. 
 
 CAMEL. 
 
 WE change our scene from the fertile plains and 
 dense forests of Southern Africa, to the desert sands, 
 where no tree or patch of green meets the view, and 
 where water can only be obtained by long journeys 
 through the parched sands. There is no locality, 
 however unpromising, that is not inhabited by some 
 animal; the icy plains of the North Seas afford a 
 resting-place to the seal, and a hunting ground to the 
 polar bear; the mountain fastnesses of Switzerland 
 give pasturage to the chamois, and even the thirsty 
 desert sands themselves are not without inhabitants. 
 The " Ships of the desert " pass over these sands, 
 enduring the heat of the sun and the lack of water 
 with a patience that no other animal possesses, for 
 no other animal is fitted with an organisation that 
 enables it to dispense \vith water, that greatest of 
 necessaries. 
 
 Indeed, the entire organisation of the camel is 
 moulded to the one purpose, the formation of an ani- 
 mal whose life is intended to be spent on dry sands. 
 Therefore its head is lifted high above the earth to be 
 out of the way of the drifting particles, its nostrils can 
 be closed at will, if the sandy storm is veiy violent, its
 
 CAMEL. 379 
 
 foot is elastic and spreading in its form, so that the 
 animal can walk upon the loose sand without sinking 
 into it ; the teeth are sharp and powerful, in order that 
 the camel may feed on the dried and stunted shrubs 
 which here and there spring up, and whose thorny 
 branches would defy any palate but that of the camel ; 
 and last of its peculiarities, it can drink at one time 
 such an enormous quantity of water, and can retain 
 it so perfectly, that even under the burning sun of 
 Africa, it requires no more drink for several days. 
 
 The hump is a peculiarity confined to the camels. 
 The bison and zebu have a kind of a hump, but that 
 is situated on the shoulders, whereas that of the 
 camel is placed on the centre of the back. The 
 Bactrian camel, indeed, has a hump on the shoul- 
 ders, but it is balanced by another on the hinder 
 quarters. The hump is composed of a fatty secre- 
 tion, and is supposed to supply nourishment to the 
 animal by absorption, if food is not to be obtained. 
 
 The more ancient books of natural histoiy repre- 
 sent the camel as having two humps, and the drome- 
 dary only one.. Now this is so far right, that some 
 camels have two humps, and no dromedary has more 
 than one ; but they are wrong in asserting that all ca- 
 mels have two humps. The Bactrian camel * is so or- 
 namented, while the Arabian camel bears but one 
 hump. The Dromedary! is a finer breed of the Arabian 
 camel, and bears the same relation to the common ca- 
 mel, as a race-horse does to a roadster. The dromedary 
 is used principally for conveying messages across the 
 desert. Its name, which signifies " a runner," is 
 sufficiently indicative of its character. 
 
 The camel is found over a large space of country, 
 extending through Arabia, Persia, part of Tartary, 
 part of India, and is also found in the Canary Isles. 
 Many allusions to the camel are found in the Old 
 Testament, where they are spoken of as forming a 
 principal part of the wealth of their owners. 
 
 * Camelus Bactrianus. t Camelus Dromedarius
 
 380 ANECDOTES. OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 Some of the habits of the camel are well described 
 in the following account communicated to me by the 
 Rev. J. H. Pollen : 
 
 " My principal experience in camels has been 
 during my travels through the Arabian desert. I 
 followed, after some interval of time, the route of the 
 Hajji the Mecca pilgrimage. 
 
 " The temper of the camel is, in general, not very 
 amiable. It is unwilling, jealous, and revengeful to 
 the last degree. Of this latter quality various tales 
 are told : one which was fully believed by the Arab 
 that narrated it to me was as follows. A certain 
 camel-driver had bitterly insulted (i. e. thrashed in 
 some ignominious way) the animal under his charge. 
 The camel showed a disposition to resent, but the 
 driver knowing from the expression of its eye what 
 was passing within, kept on the alert for several days. 
 One night he had retired for safety inside his tent, 
 leaving his striped abbaya or cloak spread over the 
 wooden saddle of the camel outside the tent. 
 
 " During the night, he heard the camel approach 
 the object, and after satisfying himself, by smell or 
 otherwise, that it was his master's cloak, and believing 
 that the said master was asleep beneath it, he lay 
 down and rolled backwards and forwards over the 
 cloak, evidently much gratified by the cracking and 
 smashing of the saddle under his weight, and fully 
 persuaded that the bones of his master were broken 
 to pieces. After a time he rose, contemplated with 
 great contentment the disordered mass, still covered 
 by the cloak, and retired. 
 
 " Next morning, at the usual hour for loading, the 
 master, who had heard this agreeable process going 
 on, from the interior of his tent, presented himself to 
 the camel. The disappointed animal was in such a 
 rage, said my informant, on seeing his master safe 
 before him, that he broke his heart, and died on the spot. 
 
 " I had once to cross a very high range of rocks, 
 and we had very great difficulty in getting our camels
 
 CAMEL. 381 
 
 to fae the steeper part of the ascent, though any 
 horse would have made very light of it. All the 
 riders had to dismount, and the laden animals made 
 the bare rocky solitudes ring to the continual and 
 savage growls with which they vented their displea- 
 sure. It is well on these occasions to keep out of the 
 reach of their long necks, which they stretch out, and 
 bring their teeth into dangerous proximity to the arm 
 or side of any one but their master. 
 
 " While being laden they testify their dislike to any 
 packet which looks unsatisfactory in point of size or 
 weight as it is carried past them ; though, when it is 
 once on their backs, they continue to bear it with the 
 patient expression of countenance which I fear passes 
 for more than it is worth. All camels are loaded 
 kneeling, and can go from twenty-four to sixty hours 
 without rest, or more than a few mouthfuls of food, 
 which they can crop off a thomy bush as they pass, 
 or a handful of barley given them by their master. 
 Parts of the desert are strewed with small dry drab- 
 coloured plants, thorny and otherwise, which the 
 camels continue to crop as they walk, jostling the 
 rider not a little. They are very sparing of drinking. 
 I have taken camels for eleven or twelve days without 
 a drop of water. All of them did not drink even 
 when we came to water, nor did any drink a large 
 quantity or seem disturbed by the want of it, though 
 the sun was very powerful and we travelled twelve or 
 thirteen hours daily. 
 
 " At first they are difficult to ride. The rider mounts 
 while the animal is kneeling, and sits like a lady, with 
 the right leg over the fore pommel of the saddle. In 
 rising, the camel suddenly straightens its hind legs 
 before moving either of the fore legs, so that if the 
 rider is unprepared, he will be jerked over its ears. 
 It moves the legs of each side alternately, occasioning 
 a long, undulating motion, which sways the rider to 
 and fro from the loins. The motion, however, is soon
 
 382 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 learned ; and when fatigued the rider can change 
 sides, or shift his position in various ways. 
 
 " Sometimes a traveller places his whole family, wife 
 and children, in one pannier fastened to the saddle, 
 puts himself in another pannier fastened on the oppo- 
 site side, and then falls in with a caravan and accom- 
 panies it. 
 
 " Dromedaries, the finer and better bred camels, have 
 sparer frames and more endurance, and are principally 
 led by the Bedouins of the desert : they also object 
 either to going up or down hill. 
 
 " They are fond of kneeling at nights just behind the 
 
 ring of Arabs who squat round the fire, and they 
 
 stretch their heads over their masters' shoulders, to 
 
 . snuff up the heat and smoke, which seem to content 
 
 them vastly. 
 
 "Between Cairo and Suez I saw more than one 
 camel dead or dying. They seem very tenacious of 
 life, as they remain unable to rise from a broken limb 
 or any other cause for very many days. I more than 
 once wished to go up and shoot the poor creatures, to 
 put them out of their misery. But the Arabs have 
 superstitious notions on this point, and would not 
 suffer it. I did once find a camel that had been 
 stabbed by its master, and once only. The poor 
 beast had been exhausted, and the long broad dagger 
 struck into his heart. It must have been a very short 
 time before I reached the spot, as the blood was 
 almost fresh. 
 
 " The camels at Grand Cairo are extremely powerful, 
 and my informant told me that they are very proud, 
 and will only eat their food from their master's hand, 
 preferring to starve rather than receive it from any 
 other source." 
 
 The swiftest description of dromedary is that called 
 by the Arabs El Heirie. This animal is equally cele- 
 brated for its endurance and its speed. One of these 
 dromedaries has been known to run more than a
 
 CAMEL. 383 
 
 hundred miles per diem, and to keep up this pace for 
 eight days in succession. In absolute speed, also, it 
 is unrivalled, a swift horse having no chance against 
 it. This, by the way, is not to be wondered at, if the 
 animal is possessed of agility to correspond with its 
 size and length of b'mb, for it can cover so much 
 ground at each step, that the horse will have to take 
 several steps while it takes one. 
 
 The camel is not only useful for its power of exist- 
 ing for a time without water, but also for its sagacity 
 in perceiving water at a distance. If a camel has 
 been kept without water for a longer period than 
 usual, it becomes very impatient, and if it perceives 
 the water at a distance, will sometimes break its 
 bridle and rush to the welcome fount. We call it 
 " fount" by courtesy, for if all things went by their 
 proper names, the desert fount would often be called 
 a mud puddle. 
 
 The camel is very useful in its own country, but 
 utterly useless in any other place. Their broad 
 cushiony feet, so admirably adapted to the dry sandy 
 soil, slip about in a pitiful manner if the ground be 
 wet ; and if the animal gets among rocky ground, it 
 often injures itself fatally. 
 
 Sometimes the camels take their course without 
 being led at all, one taking the lead, and seeming to 
 take the right course by a mysterious instinct, the 
 others following in its track, and never attempting 
 to pass before it. 
 
 The desert is the home of the Arab and his camel, 
 both master and animal appearing to suffer equally 
 when brought within the reach of inhabited walls. 
 In "Eothen" is a faithful description of the pain 
 endured by these children of the desert when brought 
 within the scope of civilisation. 
 
 " The want of foresight prevents the Bedouin from 
 appreciating at a distance of eight or ten days the 
 amount of the misery which he entails upon himself 
 at the end of that period. His dread of a city is one
 
 884 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 of the most painful mental aifections that I have ever 
 observed, and yet, when the whole breadth of the 
 desert lies between him and the town you are going to, 
 he will freely enter into an engagement to land you 
 in the city for which you are bound. When, how- 
 ever, after many a day of toil, the distant minarets at 
 length appear, the poor Bedouin relaxes the vigour of 
 his pace ; his steps become faltering and undecided ; 
 every moment his uneasiness increases; and, at length, 
 he fairly sobs aloud, and embracing your knees, im- 
 plores, with the most piteous cries and gestures, that 
 you will dispense with him and his camels, and find 
 some other means of entering the city. This, of course, 
 one cannot agree to, and the consequence is, that one 
 is obliged to witness and resist the most moving ex- 
 pressions of grief and fond entreaty. I had to go 
 through a most painful scene .of this kind when I 
 entered Cairo, and now the horror which these wilder 
 Arabs felt at the notion of entering Gaza, led to 
 consequences still more distressing. The dread of 
 cities results partly from a kind of wild instinct 
 which has always characterised the descendants of 
 Ishmael, but partly, too, from a well-founded appre- 
 hension of ill-treatment. So often it befalls the poor 
 Bedouin (when once entrapped between walls) to be 
 seized by the government authorities for the sake of 
 his camels, that his innate horror of cities becomes 
 really justified by results. The Bedouins with whom 
 I performed this journey were wild fellows of the 
 desert, and when they found that by the natural as- 
 cendancy of Europeans they were gradually brought 
 down to a state of subserviency to me, or rather to 
 my attendants, they bitterly repented, I believe, of 
 having placed themselves under our control. They 
 were rather difficult fellows to manage, and gave to 
 Dthemetri a good deal of trouble, but I liked them 
 all the better for that. Selim, the chief of the party, 
 and the man to whom all our camels belonged, was a 
 fine, savage, stately fellow ; there were, I think, five
 
 CAMEL. 385 
 
 other, Arabs of the party, but when we approached 
 the end of the journey, they, one by one, began to 
 make off towards the neighbouring encampments, 
 and by the time that the minarets of Gaza were in 
 sight, Selim, the owner of the camels, was the only 
 one Avho remained ; he, poor fellow, as we neared the 
 town, began to discover the same terror that my 
 Arabs had shown when I entered Cairo. I could not 
 possibly accede to his entreaties, and consent to let 
 my baggage be laid down on the bare sands without 
 any means of having it brought on into the city. So, at 
 length, when poor Selim had exhausted all his rhetoric 
 of voice, and action, and tears, he fixed his despairing 
 eyes for a minute upon the cherished beasts that were 
 his only wealth, and then suddenly and madly dashed 
 away into the farther desert. I continued my course 
 and reached the city at last, but it was not without 
 immense difficulty that we could constrain the poor 
 camels to pass under the hated shadow of its walls. 
 They were the genuine beasts of the desert, and it 
 was sad and painful to witness the agony they suf- 
 fered when thus they were forced to encounter the 
 fixed habitations of men ; they shrank from the be- 
 ginning of every high narrow street as though from 
 the entrance of some horrible cave or bottomless pit ; 
 they sighed and wept like women. When, at last, 
 we got them within the court-yard of the Khan, they 
 seemed to be quite broken-hearted, and looked round 
 piteously for their loving master, but no Selim came. 
 " I had imagined that he would enter the town se- 
 cretly by night, in order to carry off those five fine 
 camels, his only wealth in this world, and seemingly 
 the main objects of his affection. But no his dread 
 of civilisation was too strong ; during the whole of 
 the three days that I remained at Gaza, he failed to 
 show himself, and thus sacrificed, in all probability, not 
 only his camels, but the money which I had stipu- 
 lated to pay him for the passage of the desert. In 
 order, however, to do all I could towards saving him 
 
 c c
 
 386 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 from this last misfortune, I resorted to a contrivance 
 frequently adopted by the Asiatics. I assembled a 
 group of grave and worthy Mussulmans in the court- 
 yard of the Khan, and in their presence paid over the 
 gold to a Sheik well known in the place and accus- 
 tomed to communicate with the Arabs of the desert, 
 when all present solemnly promised that if ever Selim 
 should come to claim his rights, they would bear true 
 witness in his favour." 
 
 As the chief food of the camel consists of the thorny 
 bushes which "stretch their harsh withered branches 
 here and there in the desert, the teeth must be of no 
 small power and sharpness. This is all very well as 
 long as the animal employs its teeth for their legitimate 
 purpose, but when it begins to exercise these same 
 teeth upon other animals, the case is altered. Not 
 only are the cutting teeth of the camel sharp and 
 strong, but the canines are largely developed, and a 
 wound inflicted by such weapons as these can be no 
 trifling matter. It is not very easy to avoid a camel's 
 bite, as the animal can twist its long neck about so 
 rapidly that the object of attack has not time to 
 escape before it is seized. 
 
 At one time of the year camels are quite dangerous, 
 fighting with each other directly their loads are re- 
 moved, and sometimes attacking their masters, to 
 whom they seem rather attached at other times. 
 One of the camels in the Zoological Gardens took 
 a fancy to assaulting a goat that lived in an adjoining 
 enclosure, and which was shaken about rather severely 
 by the camel, whose long neck was thrust over the 
 fence that was supposed to separate the animals. 
 
 The flesh of the camel is sometimes eaten by the 
 Arabs, but not very often, as when it is killed the use 
 generally made of it is to extract the water contained 
 in its stomach. Sometimes, after a long and weary 
 journey, when the water has either been all con- 
 sumed, or has evaporated from the leathern bags in 
 which it is kept, the travellers, in approaching the
 
 CAMEL. 387 
 
 long wished-for spring, find it exhausted. All they 
 can do is then to push forward their wearied beasts 
 as fast as possible towards the next spring. But all 
 are perishing of thirst except the camels, whose pecu- 
 liar organisation enables them to hold out longer 
 than their masters. A camel, therefore, must die, 
 and yield up its liquid stock. This is done, and the 
 travellers sometimes retain sufficient strength, by this 
 painful though necessary sacrifice, to reach another 
 well. 
 
 "Water thus taken from the stomach of the camel 
 does not appear to be a very tempting draught, but 
 thirst makes all things pleasant that will alleviate its 
 cravings. Xothing is so much to be dreaded as the 
 want of water. Food can in a manner be dispensed 
 with for a long time, but water must be had. More- 
 over, the water thus obtained cannot, in point of fact, 
 be less palatable than that carried with the travellers, 
 and would certainly be cooler, and devoid of a very 
 powerful flavour of old leather with which the water 
 carried in bags is strongly impregnated. It is true 
 also that the water is of a light green colour, but this 
 can hardly be deemed a fault in the eyes of those accus- 
 tomed to drink water tinted with a reddish coffee- 
 coloured tint. The water is cooler than that contained 
 in the leathern bags, because the rays of the sun are 
 not able to penetrate through the ribs, &c., of the 
 camel, as they do through the leathern sack, and the 
 water, if drunk at once, would not be at a higher 
 temperature than ninety or so of Fahrenheit. It may 
 not be absolutely true that an egg may be boiled in 
 the bag slung on the camel's back, but the water is 
 at all events in a very hot state, and would serve 
 better to compound punch with, than to drink un- 
 mixed. 
 
 If any one wishes to obtain a tolerably correct 
 idea of the water used in desert travelllag, he may 
 do so by taking a very old Wellington boot, and 
 making it water-tight by a dressing of pitch ; then 
 
 c c2
 
 388 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 let him fill it with water, and place it in front of a 
 hot fire for an hour or two : the boot should be well 
 shaken every now and then, and when about half the 
 contents have evaporated, the remainder will give a 
 tolerable idea of the water which any one aspiring 
 to travel in the desert must make up his mind to 
 drink. 
 
 HOESE.* 
 
 " Hast thou -given the horse strength ? hast thou 
 clothed his neck with thunder ? 
 
 " Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper ? the 
 glory of his nostrils is terrible. 
 
 " He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his 
 strength ; he goeth on to meet the armed men. 
 
 " He mocketh at fear and is not affrighted, neither 
 turneth he back from the sword. 
 
 " The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering 
 spear and the shield. 
 
 "He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, 
 neither believeth he that it is the sound of the 
 trumpet. 
 
 "He saith among the trumpets, ha, ha; and he 
 smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the cap- 
 tains and the shouting." 
 
 THIS magnificent description of the horse can scarcely 
 be applied to the animals that we see in our streets. 
 He who wishes to see the proud horse rejoicing in 
 his strength, must either visit the deserts of Arabia, 
 where the horses are brought up with their masters, 
 or transport himself to the prairies of America, where 
 the horses have no masters at all, and range freely over 
 vast ranges of country. 
 
 It is true that our horses are not treated so badly 
 as they once were, but still we are far from managing 
 this beautiful animal properly. "We force back his 
 
 * Eqtius CabaUus.
 
 HORSE. 389 
 
 head jwith bearing reins to make him look more 
 spirited ; we hurt his mouth with an uselessly power- 
 ful bit, and we put him on a regulated system of 
 diet, forgetful of the fact that animals are the best 
 judges of those matters that concern their health. But 
 perhaps the horse-owners judge their quadrupeds from 
 themselves and other bipeds, and think, that as them- 
 selves would be apt to run riot if they were placed with- 
 out restriction in a place where was everything that 
 could be desired, so would the horses run riot, if they 
 were permitted to eat and drink at what time and 
 in what quantities they liked best. 
 
 About thirty or forty years ago, the treatment of the 
 horse was shameful. Among other cruelties inflicted 
 upon them by their owners, their ears were cropped 
 and their tails were docked ; many even went fur- 
 ther than this ; and thinking that the horse ought to 
 carry his tail high, conceived the barbarous notion of 
 cutting across the muscles of the lower side of the 
 tail, and then, when they had thus deprived the animal 
 of the power of lowering the member, they prevented 
 the muscles from regaining their power by fastening a 
 rope to the end of the tail, passing it over a pulley in the 
 ceiling, and attaching a weight to the cord, by which 
 the tail was always kept raised, in whatever position 
 the poor horse placed itself. This custom, called 
 "nicking," was greatly in fashion about thirty or 
 forty years ago, and the books of farriery of that pe- 
 riod give ample instruction in the art. I remember 
 seeing in one of these books an engraving of a stable 
 full of nicked horses. If the appearance of the animals 
 had not called forth pity, risibility would have been the 
 prominent impulse on seeing the print. There were 
 four or five stalls, each occupied by a horse. Some of 
 the horses were lying down, and some standing up, all 
 of them had their long tails gathered into a peak, and 
 standing perpendicularly in the air, as if they had been 
 submitted to the action of the " gravitation pump."* 
 
 When the tortured animal has remained in this man- 
 
 * " Story of a Chemist."
 
 390 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 ner for some time, the wounds on the tail heal, and 
 the operator has the satisfaction of knowing that the 
 horse is completely deprived of the use of that ap- 
 pendage. The pain suffered during the healing pro- 
 cess must he intense. We know that when a cut heals 
 the parts are drawn together, and sometimes with 
 such force as completely to change the appearance of 
 a man's countenance, if he has heen wounded in the 
 face. The torture, then, that is experienced by the 
 poor horse, whose wounds are kept open hy mechani- 
 cal force, must'indeed he extreme. 
 
 It is supposed that the wild horses which scour the 
 plains of Tartary are the originators of our domestic 
 horse, while it is evident that the herds of horses that 
 are found in the American prairies are derived from 
 those animals that were brought into America by the 
 Spaniards in 1535, and whose strange appearance 
 contributed so greatly to their victory over the natives. 
 There is a story that the Americans supposed the 
 rider and his horse to be one animal, and that when 
 they saw a soldier in battle tumble off his steed, they 
 were so terrified at one foe thus becoming two, that 
 although they had gained the ascendancy, they took 
 to flight, fearing lest all their opponents had* an un- 
 limited power of doubling their numbers. Xow the 
 American Indians ride the horse themselves, and some 
 of the tribes, the Comanches in particular, are unri- 
 valled as horsemen. 
 
 We will suppose ourselves among the Comanches. 
 There is a young man who wants a horse, and does 
 not wish to go to the expense of buying one ; so he 
 takes a lasso, mounts a swift horse, and sets off in 
 search of a herd of wild horses. These having been 
 found, he begins a chase after them, endeavouring to 
 pen them in by a precipice, or some other obstacle, 
 so that they are forced to rush past him. The herd 
 spring by with the speed of fear, but one animal is 
 devoted. One bound, and he is free as air, another, 
 and he is on his haunches, choking and struggling in 
 vain to free himself from the noose that has tightened
 
 HORSE. 391 
 
 round his neck. After he has plunged about until he 
 is wearied, the operation of " choking" down com- 
 mences. The Indian dismounts, leaving his horse to 
 itself. The animal is trained to remain quiet, and 
 waits patiently until its.master remounts : the Indian, 
 now holding the lasso in his hand, advances cautiously 
 towards the captive animal, going hand over hand, as 
 the sailors say, and choking the horse by a jerk of the 
 lasso, whenever it struggles. At last he reaches the 
 horse and grasps its nostrils, and having succeeded in 
 so doing, he breathes once or twice into the nostrils of 
 the animal, which, as if under the operation of some 
 spell, appears to be tamed by the very action. He 
 then puts a bit into its mouth, and leading it towards 
 his first horse, remounts, and leads the captured ani- 
 mal home. Next day, the newly taken horse is seen 
 doing his work. 
 
 The best horses are seldom taken in this manner, as 
 they cannot be overtaken by the mounted Indian ; it 
 is therefore the less speedy that fall victims to the 
 lasso. There is also another method used, called 
 "creasing;" this consists in striking the upper part 
 of the neck with a rifle bullet, so that the horse feels 
 stunned for a few minutes; and when he recovers, 
 .finds a bit in his mouth and a man on his back. But 
 this is a method seldom resorted to, as it requires a 
 most practised shot to strike the neck, and avoid in- 
 juring the animal; and moreover, the animals so taken 
 are never so spirited as those captured by the lasso. As 
 is usual, when men can obtain hor^s at a low price, 
 the Indians are cruel masters, and beat their horses 
 unmercifully with a formidable whip, that always hangs 
 at their wrists ready for use. These whips are some- 
 times used for a different purpose, in a strange method 
 of obtaining horses, called " smoking." Let Mr. Catlin 
 give the account of the custom in his own words. 
 
 " When General Street and I arrived at Kee-o- 
 Kuk's village, we were just in time to see the amus- 
 ing scene in the prairie, a little back of his village
 
 392 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 The ' Poxes,' who were making up a war party to go 
 against the ' Sioux,' and had not suitable horses 
 enough by twenty, had sent word to the ' Sacs' the 
 day before, according to ancient custom, that they 
 were coming on that day at a certain time to ' smoke' 
 that number of horses, and they must not fail to have 
 them ready. On that day, and at that hour, the 
 twenty young men who were beggars for horses were 
 on the spot, and seated themselves on the ground in 
 a circle, where they went to smoking. The villagers 
 flocked around them in a dense crowd, and soon after 
 there appeared on the prairie, at half a mile distance, 
 an equal number of young men of the Sac tribe, 
 who had agreed to give each a horse, and who were 
 then galloping them round at full speed; and grad- 
 ually, as they went around in a circuit, coming nearer 
 to the centre, until they were at last close to the ring 
 of young fellows seated on the ground. Whilst dash- 
 ing about thus, each one with a heavy whip in his 
 hand, as he came within reach of the group on the 
 ground, selected the one to whom he decided to pre- 
 sent his horse ; and as he passed, gave him the most 
 tremendous cut with his lash over the naked shoulders; 
 and as he darted around again, he plied the whip as 
 before, and again and again, with a violent crack, un- 
 til the blood could be seen trickling over his naked 
 shoulders ; upon which he instantly dismounted, and 
 placed the bridle and whip in his hands, saying ' Here, 
 you are a beggar, I present you a horse, but you will 
 carry my mark on^rour back.' In this manner they 
 were all, in a little time, ' whipped up,' and each had 
 a good horse to ride home and into battle. His ne- 
 cessity was such, that he could afford to take the 
 stripes and the scars as the price of the horse, and the 
 giver could afford to make the present for the satis- 
 faction of putting his mark on the other, and of 
 boasting of his liberality." 
 
 And a considerable boast he would have made of his 
 liberality when he returned to his own camp, for your
 
 HOKSE. 393 
 
 Indian is a most unmitigated boaster ; lie seems to 
 act on the principle of the advice given by an expe- 
 rienced writer to one who was about to launch his first 
 work on the world " If you have only a penny trum- 
 pet, blow it." 
 
 The " lasso," " creasing," and " smoking," are three 
 very ingenious methods of obtaining horses, but they 
 are not universally employed by the Indians. In the 
 first place, the first two methods require a considerable 
 amount of trouble, and Indians, like all savages, avoid 
 trouble when they have an opportunity. The third 
 method is certainly attended with very little trouble, 
 but it puts the men to great pain ; and although an 
 Indian is most heroic in his endurance of pain when in- 
 flicted by an enemy, or in accordance with the laws of 
 his peculiar chivaliry, he is quite as unwilling to un- 
 dergo bodily suffering as the most civilised European; 
 so he avoids all difficulties by stealing his horses from 
 some one else who has caught them and trained them. 
 There is not a more inveterate race of horse-stealers 
 in the world than the American Indians. In the pur- 
 suit of horses, they are unrivalled for their cunning 
 and boldness in carrying out, and their craft in 
 concealing their measures until the actual blow is 
 struck. 
 
 The capture by the lasso is used in other parts of 
 America, and by civilised men. In Chili, the Gruachos 
 evince great skill in catching and breaking the wild 
 horse. Two accounts, by Darwin and Head, will il- 
 lustrate the modes employed in the work. Mr. Darwin's 
 description is as follows : 
 
 " One evening a domidor (subduer of horses) came 
 for the purpose of breaking in some colts. I will de- 
 scribe the preparatory steps, for I believe they have 
 not been mentioned by other travellers. A troop of 
 wild young horses is driven into the corral, or large en- 
 closure of stakes, and the door is shut. "We will 
 suppose that one man alone has to catch and mount 
 a horse which as yet had never felt bridle or saddle.
 
 3&4 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 I conceive, except by a Guacho, such a feat would be 
 utterly impracticable. The Guacho picks out a full- 
 grown colt, and, as the beast rushes round the circus, 
 he throws his lasso so as to catch both the front legs : 
 instantly the horse rolls over with a heavy shock, and 
 whilst struggling on the ground, the Guacho holding 
 the lasso tight, makes a circle so as to catch one of the 
 hind legs just beneath the fetlock, and draws it close 
 to the two front ; he then hitches the lasso, so that 
 the three legs are bound together ; then, sitting on 
 the horse's neck, he fixes a strong bridle, without a 
 bit, to the lower jaw ; this he does by passing a narrow 
 thong through the eyeholes at the end of the reins, 
 and several times round both jaw and tongue. The 
 two front legs are now tied closely together with a 
 strong leathern thong, fastened by a slip knot ; the 
 lasso which bound the three legs together being then 
 loosed, the horse rises with difficulty. The Guacho, 
 now holding fast the bridle fixed to the lower jaw, 
 leads the horse outside the corral. If a second man is 
 present, (otherwise the trouble is much greater) he 
 holds the animal's head whilst the first puts on the 
 horse cloths and saddle, and girths the whole together. 
 During this operation, the horse, from dread and aston- 
 ishment at being thus bound round the waist, throws 
 himself over and over again on the ground, and, till 
 beaten, is unwilling to rise. At last, when the sad- 
 dling is finished, the poor animal can hardly breathe 
 from fear, and is white with foam and sweat. The 
 man now prepares to mount, by pressing heavily on 
 the stirrup, so that the horse may not lose its balance; 
 and at the moment he throws his legs over the ani- 
 mal's back he pulls the slip-knot, and the beast is free. 
 The horse, wild with dread, gives a few most violent 
 bounds, and then starts off at full gallop : when quite 
 exhausted, the man, by patience, brings him back to 
 the corral, where, reeking hot and scarcely alive, the 
 poor beast is let free." 
 
 This, however, is only the preliminary step, as the
 
 HORSE. 395 
 
 horse is not thought to be completely under subjection 
 until it can be checked instantly on a spot when at 
 full speed. A Guacho will ride his horse at full gal- 
 lop, and stop it at once on a cloak thrown on the 
 ground, or will even charge headlong against a wall, 
 and force the animal to rear up so as to scrape the 
 wall with its hoofs. 
 
 But the triumph of horse-training is the feat that 
 Darwin saw performed in Chili. The rider, merely 
 holding the reins betwen his thumb and finger, dashed 
 up to a post, and made the horse wheel round it, while 
 with his outstretched arm he kept one finger on the 
 post. The circuit having been made, the rider exe- 
 cuted a demi-volte, and made the circuit of the post 
 in the opposite direction, keeping the finger of his other 
 hand against it. 
 
 The horses are thus trained as a preparation for 
 purposes for which they are used. It appears that when 
 a bullock is caught in the lasso, it will often gallop round 
 in a circle at the extent of the rope, and thus, if the 
 horse is not able to wheel within a small space, will 
 catch the rider in the cord, and almost inevitably kill 
 him. Such has frequently been the case, the unfortunate 
 men having had their bodies nearly severed in two. 
 
 The description by Capt. Head gives a similar ac- 
 count, and mentions several additional circumstances. 
 
 " A man, mounted on a strong steady horse, threw 
 his lasso over the neck of a young horse, and dragged 
 him to the gate. For some time he was very unwill- 
 ing to leave his comrades, but the moment he was 
 forced from them, his first idea was to gallop away ; 
 however, the jerk of the lasso checked him in the 
 most effectual manner. The Peons now ran after 
 him on foot, and threw the lasso over his fore legs 
 just above the fetlocks, and, twitching it, they pulled 
 his legs from under him so suddenly, that I really 
 thought the fall he got had killed him. In an instant 
 a Guacho was seated on his head, and with his long 
 knife, in a few seconds, cut off the whole of the horse's
 
 396 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 mane, while another cut the hair from the end of the 
 tail. This they told me is a mark that the animal has 
 been once mounted. They then put a piece of hide 
 into his mouth to serve as a bit, and a strong hide 
 halter on his head. The Gruacho who was to mount, 
 arranged his spurs, which were unusually long and 
 sharp ; and while two men held the animal by his 
 ears, he put on the saddle, which he girthed ex- 
 tremely tight ; he then caught hold of the horse's ears, 
 and in an instant vaulted into the saddle, upon which 
 the man who was holding the horse by the halter 
 threw the end of it to the rider, and from that mo- 
 ment no one seemed to take any notice of him. The 
 horse instantly began to jump in a manner which 
 made it very difficult for the rider to keep his seat, 
 and quite different from the kick or plunge of an 
 English horse ; however, the Gruacho's spurs soon set 
 him going, and off he galloped, doing everything in 
 his power to throw his rider. Another horse was 
 immediately seized, and so quick was the operation 
 that twelve Gruachos were mounted in a space which 
 I think hardly exceeded an hour." 
 
 Although our own horses cause us no such trouble 
 in taking, they often cause us sufficient trouble in 
 breaking, and even when broken, almost every horse 
 has its peculiar tricks, and after residing for any length 
 of time in one place it gains also peculiar habits. Every 
 one who has had experience in horses can remember 
 numberless instances of the tricks and habits of these 
 creatures. 
 
 It is astonishing to see how readily a horse learns 
 to know his way, after he has been a few times on 
 the same journey. There is a horse, now rather aged, 
 whom I have repeatedly driven, who always goes 
 through a regular routine, and completely astonishes 
 those who are not used to him. When harnessed 
 (an operation which he always greatly resents), he 
 sets off at a sharp trot until he comes to a place 
 where three roads meet: here he slackens his pace,
 
 HORSE. 397 
 
 and turns his head round, as if to ask which way he is 
 to go. This point being settled, he always turns off 
 sharply at the first by-road \vhich leads to a village 
 Avhere he is hospitably entertained. To prevent this, 
 it is necessary to give a decided hint some time be- 
 fore reaching the by-road, that he is expected to go 
 quietly on and not look for the hospitality of his 
 friends at the village. After he has received this in- 
 timation he does not attempt to turn off, but proceeds 
 on the high road. The first time that I drove him, 
 he carried me for some distauce down the by-road 
 before I could persuade him to retrace his steps. He 
 then proceeds steadily enough, always slackening his 
 pace in order to cross the railway, and then turns off 
 to reach the station. Being admonished that the 
 station is not his destination for that day, he next 
 makes a bolt for a stable-yard, where he is entertained 
 if he has to wait any considerable time. It always 
 requires a steady bearing on the opposite rein, and a 
 slight application of the whip, to induce him to pass 
 the stable-yard; but this difficulty being overcome, 
 he proceeds to the next village, always choosing the 
 proper turnings, and invariably taking the correct side 
 of the road, whether he sees a vehicle or rider meeting 
 him, or hears it from behind. He then, of his own 
 own accord, crosses the road, and draws up at the 
 baker's shop from whence the bread of the house is 
 furnished. If, however, he is told not to stop here, 
 he goes off to the clergyman's house, and draws up at 
 the door in the most artistic manner conceivable. 
 Here he always considers his journey ended, and 
 when his master again enters the gig, he turns round 
 and makes the best of his way homewards. Once 
 when he was driven past this, his last resting-place, 
 his astonishment and indignation were unbounded. 
 He started off with great reluctance ; and during his 
 journey was constantly turning his head, and looking 
 first to one side and then the other, besides making a 
 few attempts to turn round altogether. His satisfac-
 
 898 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 tion, when lie was at length suffered to retrace his 
 steps, was very evident, and he set off, shaking his 
 head, ears, and' harness with an air that plainly showed 
 his idea that his master had at length discovered his 
 error. He always paid the greatest attention to the 
 conversation taking place behind him, and slackened his 
 pace according to the interest of the discussion, often 
 nearly stopping when he thought his driver too much 
 engaged to notice his pace. His expressive ears, and 
 general way of carrying his head, always demonstrated 
 his perfect knowledge when he himself was the sub- 
 ject of conversation. 
 
 The tricks that saddle-horses fall into are often not 
 only vexatious but even dangerous. It is not at all 
 pleasant to be mounted on a horse, who, for no ima- 
 ginable reason, springs sideways across the road, and 
 leaves his rider on the ground while he is enjoy- 
 ing a solitary gallop. I was once nearly the victim 
 of an eccentric pony. The little animal was one of 
 those which are so commonly used in the Peak of 
 Derbyshire, little hard-mouthed animals, who are 
 perfectly independent of bit and bridle, and generally 
 prefer going on their own course to taking that 
 indicated by their rider. At first the pony objected 
 to move at all, and could only be kept at a respectable 
 pace by one of the party remaining behind him, and 
 paying away at him with a heavy whip. After some 
 miles had been passed in sundry vagaries, he changed 
 his mind, and became very obedient, galloping for 
 more than a mile without requiring the whip once. I 
 was just congratulating myself on having conquered 
 the obstinate animal at last, when I flew up into the 
 air, and on coming down again, found myself seated 
 on the pony's neck, the creature being firmly fixed, 
 with his fore legs planted before him, exactly as he 
 had stopped. I would defy the best trained cavalry 
 horse to have halted more instantaneously. 
 
 However, he did not attempt that trick again, for 
 instead of regaining the saddle I rode on his neck for
 
 HORSE. 399 
 
 several miles up and down the very hilly roads that 
 exist near Matlock. 
 
 Not many months since a startled horse ran away 
 at Oxford, and met with an extraordinary fate. There 
 is a certain very narrow street in Oxford called Bear 
 Lane, in honour of a public-house whose exterior was 
 at that time decorated with a sign representing an 
 animal popularly supposed to be a bear, and wearing 
 an expensive gold chain and collar. The lane opens into 
 another lane crossing it at right angles, and almost en- 
 tirely composed of colleges. Down this lane a hack was 
 coining gently enough, when, being startled, it dashed 
 suddenly forward, sprang over the rough stones, and 
 not being able to check itself, its fore feet came on the 
 flag pavement of the cross lane, slipped over it, and 
 the animal was hurled with such violence against the 
 stone-wall that it was killed on the spot, the subse- 
 quent appliance of a butcher's knife being an unne- 
 cessary precaution. The rider most providentially 
 escaped unhurt. I passed by the spot just as the 
 catastrophe had occurred. The poor horse was lying 
 quite dead, half on the pavement and half on the 
 road, and the gutter was crimsoned with its blood. 
 For weeks afterwards the stain remained on the wall 
 where its head had struck. 
 
 That horse presented no very pleasing spectacle, but 
 it was not so unearthly hideous as one that I saw lying 
 dead on a country road. It was about six in the morn- 
 ing when I was taking an early walk, that I came un- 
 expectedly upon the body of a horse lying in the 
 road. The animal had evidently been dead some few 
 hours : I was remarking to myself how complete was 
 the difference between a dead and a sleeping horse, 
 and how the energy of every limb seemed to have 
 gone together with the life that had once animated it. 
 The limbs were stretched out, each rib was plainly 
 conspicuous, and the head was thrown back. I moved 
 round to obtain a better view of the head, but found 
 that the rising sun behind threw a shadow exactly on
 
 400 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 the animal's head. I therefore moved aside in order 
 to permit the sun's rays to stream full upon the fallen 
 animal. As they did so, I started back, for from the 
 eyes of the dead horse there gleamed a ray 'of living 
 emerald light that might fitly have flashed from the 
 eye-balls of the phantom horse that carried Leonora 
 and her spectre bridegroom to their home among the 
 tombs. Or rather it appeared as if a demon had slain 
 the horse and was looking out of its eyes. 
 
 That emerald ray haunted me for weeks. 
 
 It would have- been a great windfall for Edgar Poe 
 to have witnessed such a sight. Had he done so, 
 there would have been no necessity to manufacture 
 an ideal raven, 
 
 " Whose fiery eyes burned into his bosom's core." 
 
 When a horse is left to his own desires, and his 
 senses permitted to remain unblunted, he is a very 
 sagacious animal, and gifted with no small degree 
 of curiosity. 
 
 A horse of the common cart-horse breed, that used 
 to work on the railway at Oxford, was always trusted 
 by his master to return home unaccompanied after his 
 day's work was over. The signal for departure was 
 given to him by throwing the end of his chain upon his 
 back. This notice having been given, he invariably walk- 
 ed home very deliberately, never failing to scrutinise 
 every new object on his way with the utmost attention. 
 At one time an epidemic for keeping goats prevailed 
 at Oxford. As the horse was returning home, the 
 unwonted sight of a goat walking about in the street 
 caught his attention, and he immediately walked over 
 to the goat to inspect such an extraordinary animal, 
 nor was it until he had surveyed it for some time, 
 and gravely driven it before him for a few hundred 
 yards, that his mind seemed set at rest on the sub- 
 ject : afterwards, the sight of goats never disturbed 
 his equanimity. About the same time, a blind horse 
 was accustomed to draw a cart, which duty he per-
 
 HORSE. 401 
 
 formed as well as if he had possessed the use of his 
 eyes. ' He directed his course by means of certain in- 
 describable vocal sounds produced by his master, and 
 never failed to change his course at the proper mo- 
 ment when his master's voice was heard. 
 
 !Kow this horse used to be considered as rather a 
 prodigy, and was thought to exhibit a very high 
 degree of reasoning powers. Tet, I am quite sure 
 that nearly every horse would behave in the same 
 manner if it had been treated as well. The fact is, 
 that we are so full of our railroads, power-looms, 
 steam-presses, and other mechanical powers, which 
 are whizzing and twirling throughout the length and 
 breadth of the land, that we are always too apt to 
 endeavour to turn our very servants into machines ; 
 and it is not to be expected that the horse is to escape 
 while man suffers. 
 
 A soldier, for example, is looked upon by his officer 
 as a machine, principally useful in making " wheels," 
 " drills," " echelons," " squares," and other imple- 
 ments of a like nature, A labourer (from whom, by 
 the way, the soldier is generally manufactured) is set to 
 work so many hours per diem, and expected to turn out 
 a certain amount of carrots, turnips, corn, &c. The 
 same may be said of the mechanic, substituting chairs, 
 tables, and other articles, for carrots and turnips. 
 The doctor is, perhaps, more of a machine than either, 
 for after the day's work has been done, every body 
 feels himself privileged to set the wheels going again 
 principally through the medium of the night-bell. 
 But perhaps the greatest machine of all is worked by 
 the publishers. The poor author-machine is supposed 
 to be a kind of rotatory, self-acting steam-engine, 
 capable of pouring out an unceasing supply of " copy." 
 Sometimes the safety-valve is soldered down, and 
 double the quantity of blackened paper is expected to 
 be made. This falls very heavily on the machine, for 
 only the head and hands, the boiler and the pistons, 
 can .work, and so sometimes the boiler bursts. 
 
 D D
 
 402 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 So, a man, being himself a machine, is naturally 
 anxious to reduce his horse to the same level, and 
 commences his work by putting blinkers on its head, 
 in order to prevent it from seeing anything at the' 
 side of the road which might startle it, or induce 
 it to stop from curiosity. Now as to the first reason, 
 it is no reason at all, for ignorance is always one great 
 cause of fear ; and a horse is much more likely to shy 
 at an object which he does not understand, than at one 
 which he has had an opportunity of observing. 
 
 From stable to harness, and from harness to stable, 
 is all the experience of life that many a horse ob- 
 tains. What wonder then, if he starts aside at catch- 
 ing a glimpse of an object which he does not under- 
 stand, and which he may fancy has some connection 
 with the whip which he has never seen, but whose 
 stinging strokes are always felt on the tenderest parts 
 of his body ? Or an unexpected sound may strike his 
 ear, and he naturally starts away from it. Nothing 
 prevents a horse from shying so effectually, as fami- 
 liarity with the objects which excite his alarm. 
 
 But when left to itself, the horse is anything but a 
 machine, and displays a considerable amount of sa- 
 gacity. There is an instance of cunning in a horse 
 recorded by Mr. Smee: 
 
 " Some time ago I was stopping at a farm-house, in 
 "Wales during harvest time, and I wanted a pony in 
 order that I might take a ride. All the men were in 
 the fields, some distance off, and the females declared 
 that it would be impossible to catch the pony, because 
 it was so uncommonly cunning. However, I thought 
 that I would make an attempt myself, and was sur- 
 prised to find how easily I could drive it into a close 
 place. To my astonishment, the pony went coolly to 
 the gate, pressed its mouth against the spring, pushed 
 the gate open, and away it ran, with several horses 
 after it, into a field, kicking up its heels and frisking 
 about as much as to say, ' Catch me if you can.' 
 However, I fastened the springs of all the gates but
 
 HOUSE. 403 
 
 one, t$ied the manoeuvre over again, and captured the 
 little rascal by his opening the gate and entering into 
 the farmyard, intending to go out on the opposite 
 side." 
 
 Perhaps this animal was a near relation of the tall 
 quadruped who objected to being mounted by Mr. 
 Winkle, in the disastrous journey from Rochester to 
 Dingley Dell, and who, although not possessed of 
 mathematical powers, succeeded in demonstrating 
 that each point of the circumference of a circle is 
 equally distant from the centre. 
 
 The reader will observe, that although this clever 
 little horse was gifted with sufficient reason to de- 
 ceive one who was not accustomed to his tricks, yet 
 the higher intellect of the man soon overcame that of 
 the animal. 
 
 Those resident by the sea-shore almost daily wit- 
 ness a combat between a horse and his rider. The 
 horse is intended to take a sea bath, but the sound of 
 the waves so terrifies him, that he at first dares not 
 come near it. The rider takes him up and down the 
 sands, until he can venture to skirt the waves with 
 tolerable equanimity. Presently the rider urges him 
 on the track of a receding wave, and waits for its 
 return. Back it comes, curling over the horses' feet, 
 and dashing its foam over him. But at this first 
 touch of the many-sounding sea, the affrighted horse 
 springs off, as if Neptune in person were assaulting 
 him with his trident, and takes to flight. He is then 
 brought back again, and the same scene repeated over 
 and over, until he suffers the white-crested waves to 
 break over him with as much indifference as do the 
 draggle-tailed animals who draw the bathing ma- 
 chines. 
 
 Patience and an even temper are two requisites for 
 managing a restive horse. Two-thirds of the hard 
 mouths, and evil tempers are caused by pretenders, 
 who are quite as much at home in managing a horse, 
 as a cockney sailor in managing a yacht. Unhappily, 
 
 DD 2
 
 404 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 the feat of porting the binnacle, or reefing the lee- 
 scupper of the would-be sailors, is not so disastrous 
 as the equestrian exploits of the would-be horsemen, 
 for when they get on board a yacht, they wisely 
 leave its management to the sailors ; whereas if they 
 mount a horse, they must manage it themselves. 
 
 The memory of the horse is very good, *and he 
 will remember, not only persons, but places after an 
 interval of several years. There is an account in the 
 " Penny Magazine," that illustrates the excellent 
 memory of the horse : 
 
 "During my residence on the head- waters of the 
 Susquehanna, I owned a small American horse, of the 
 name of Charlie, that was very remarkable for his 
 attachment to my own person, as well as for his 
 general good qualities. He was a great favourite 
 with all the family ; and being a favourite, he was 
 frequently indulged with less work and more to eat 
 than any of the other horses on the farm. At a 
 short distance from the dwelling-house, was a small 
 but luxuriant pasture, where, during the summer, 
 Charlie was often permitted to graze. When this 
 pasture had been originally reclaimed from its wild 
 forest state, about ten years previous to the period of 
 which I am speaking, four or five large trees of the 
 sugar maple species had been left standing when the 
 rest were cut down, and means had afterwards been 
 found to prevent their being scorched by the fire at 
 the time the rest of the timber had been consumed. 
 Though remarkably fine trees of their kind, they 
 were, however, no great ornament, their stems being 
 long and bare, their heads small, and by no means 
 full of leaves the case generally with trees that have 
 grown up in close contact with each other in the 
 American forests. But if they were no ornament, they 
 might serve as shade-trees. Beneath one of these 
 trees Charlie used to seek shelter, as well from the 
 heat of the meridian sun as from the severe thunder- 
 gusts that occasionally ravage that part of the
 
 HOESE. 405 
 
 county. On an occasion of this sort Charlie had 
 taken his stand close to his favourite tree, his tail 
 actually pressing against it, his head and body in an 
 exact line with the course of the wind; apparently 
 understanding the most advantageous position to 
 escape the violence of the storm, and quite at home, 
 as it were, for he had stood in the same place some 
 scores of times. The storm came on, and raged with 
 such violence, that the tree under which the horse 
 had sought shelter^ was literally torn up by the roots. 
 I happened to be standing at a window, from whence 
 I witnessed the whole scene. The moment Charlie 
 heard the roots giving way behind him, that is, on the 
 contrary side of the tree from where he stood, and, 
 probably feeling the uprooted tree pressing against his 
 tail, he sprang forward, and barely cleared the ground 
 upon which, at the next moment, the top of the huge 
 forest tree fell with such a force that the crash was 
 tremendous, for every limb and branch were actually 
 riven asunder. I have many a time seen horses 
 alarmed, nay exceedingly frightened; but never in 
 my life did I witness anything of the sort that bore 
 the slightest comparison to Charlie's extreme terror, 
 and yet Charlie, on ordinary occasions, was by no 
 means a coward. He galloped, he reared his mane, 
 and tossed his head, he stopped short, and snorted 
 wildly, and then darted off at the top of his speed in 
 a contrary direction, and then as suddenly stopped 
 and set off in another, until long after the storm had 
 considerably abated, and it was not until after the 
 lapse of some hours that he ventured to reconnoitre 
 but that at a considerable distance the scene of 
 his narrow escape. For that day, at least, his ap- 
 petite had been completely spoiled, for he never of- 
 fered to stoop his head to the ground while daylight 
 continued. The next day his apprehensions seemed 
 somewhat abated ; but his curiosity had been excited 
 to such a pitch, that he kept pacing from place to 
 place, never failing to halt as he passed within a
 
 406 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 moderate distance of the prostrate tree, gazing thereat 
 in utter bewilderment, as if wholly unable to com- 
 prehend the scene he had witnessed the preceding 
 day. After this occurrence took place, I kept this 
 favourite horse several years, and during the summer 
 months he usually enjoyed the benefit of his old 
 pasture. But it was quite clear he never forgot, on 
 any occasion, the narrow escape he had had ; for 
 neither the burning rays of the noontide summer 
 sun, nor the furious raging of the thunder-storm, 
 could compel Charlie to seek shelter under one of 
 the trees that still remained standing in his small 
 pasture." 
 
 The Horse fights in two ways. One method is 
 by lashing out with the hind legs, but another is by 
 rearing up and striking with the fore feet. The 
 animal strikes very rapidly, and can inflict very severe 
 blows, as, from the formation of the foot, each blow is 
 struck with the end of the hoof. This mode of fight- 
 ing is generally used in the battles of the horses 
 among each other, or in combating the wolves that 
 hang about the skirts of the wild herds. Mr. Lloyd 
 tells us of a mare that used voluntarily to fight the 
 wolves merely for the fun of the thing. She always 
 waited until she was properly shod, and then trotted 
 off into, the woods alone, ready and willing to meet 
 a foe. 
 
 The bear is one of the most formidable enemies to 
 the horse, and the inhabitants of Scandinavia say that 
 it leaps on the back of the horse, and while it holds 
 on to its prey with three paws, it endeavours with the 
 other to grasp at the trunks of the trees through 
 which the affrighted animal is dashing ; such, they 
 say, is its strength, that it can in this manner stop 
 the horse to which it is clinging ; sometimes it grasps 
 too small a tree, and then the tree is torn out of the 
 ground. 
 
 The words of his master are perfectly understood 
 by the horse, and it not unfrequently happens that it
 
 HORSE. 407 
 
 is unnecessary to direct the animal at all. Every one 
 is familiar with the horses driven in a London omni- 
 bus, and has noticed, that they never require to be 
 checked when they have to stop ; the " Hold hard " of 
 the conductor being sufficient to bring them to a stop. 
 In like manner the violent slamming of the door, or 
 the blow of the strap buckle on the roof, is all that is 
 required to start them ; the one method being used by 
 misanthropical conductors as a convenient way of start- 
 ling the passenger who happens to sit immediately 
 beneath, and the other employed for the purpose of 
 projecting the passenger who has just entered to the 
 farther end of the vehicle : or in case of a mild con- 
 ductor, the word " right" suffices. 
 
 The cavalry horses all know the words of command 
 as well as their riders, and would go through the ma- 
 noeuvres, even if their riders were asleep. Not long 
 since, during a fox hunt, an officer who made one of 
 the party, thought he recognised some horses in the 
 field, as having formerly been in his own company. 
 Wishing to be quite certain, he suddenly shouted 
 " Halt !" The word was magic. The suspected 
 horses threw themselves back, ploughed up a yard or 
 two of soil with their feet, and when they recovered 
 their position, their riders were lying on the ground, 
 considerably in advance. So at the riding schools, the 
 word of command is given more to the horses than 
 the riders, who being screwed into stiff and unnatural 
 postures by the riding master, are carried along quite 
 at the mercy of the animal. 
 
 Before we proceed to that most beautiful of ani- 
 mals, the Arab Horse, I will quote a passage from 
 Acerbi, giving an excellent account of the passage up 
 the frozen G-ulf of Bothnia, accompanied by the excite- 
 ment of a horse chase. 
 
 " When a traveller is going to cross over the gulf 
 on the ice to Finland, the peasants always oblige him 
 to engage double the number of horses to what he 
 had upon his arrival at Grioleham. We were forced
 
 408 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 to take no less than eight sledges, though being only 
 three in company, and two servants. The distance 
 across is forty-three English miles, thirty of which 
 you travel on the ice, without touching on land. This 
 passage of the frozen sea is, doubtless, the most sin- 
 gular and striking spectacle that a traveller from the 
 south can behold. I expected to travel forty-three 
 miles without sight of land, over a vast and uniform 
 plain, and that every successive mile would be in exact 
 unison and monotonous correspondence with those I 
 had already travelled ; but my astonishment was 
 greatly increased in proportion as we advanced from 
 our starting post. The sea, at first smooth and even, 
 became more rugged and unequal. It assumed, as 
 we proceeded, an undulating appearance resembling 
 the waves by which it had been agitated. At length 
 we met with masses of ice heaped one upon another, 
 and some of them seemed as if suspended in the air, 
 while others were raised in the form of pyramids. On 
 the whole, they exhibited a picture of the vilest and 
 most savage confusion, that surprised the eye by the 
 novelty of its appearance. It was an immense chaos of 
 icy ruins, presented to view under every possible form, 
 and embellished by superb stalactites, of a blue green 
 colour. Amidst this chaos, it was not without much 
 fatigue and trouble that our horses were able to find 
 and pursue their way ; it was necessary to make fre- 
 quent windings, and sometimes to return in a con- 
 trary direction, following that of a frozen wave, in 
 order to avoid a collection of icy mountains. In 
 spite of all our expedients for discovering the evenest 
 paths, our sledges were every moment overturned to 
 the right or the left, and frequently the legs of one or 
 the other of the company raised perpendicularly in the 
 air, served as a signal for the whole caravan to halt. 
 The inconvenience and the danger of our journey 
 were still further increased by the following circum- 
 stances. Our horses were made wild and furious both 
 by the sight and smell of our great pelisses, manufac-
 
 HORSE. 409 
 
 tured of the skins of Russian wolves or bears. When 
 any of the sledges were overturned, the horses that 
 belonged to it, or to that next to it, frightened at the 
 sight of what they supposed to be a wolf or a bear 
 rolling on the ice, would set off at full gallop, to the 
 great terror of both passenger and driver. The pea- 
 sant, apprehensive of losing his horse in the midst of 
 this desert, kept firm hold of his bridle, and suffered 
 the horse to drag his body through masses of ice, of 
 which the sharp points threatened to cut him in 
 pieces. The animal at last wearied out by the con- 
 stancy of the man, and disheartened by the obstacles 
 continually opposed to his flight, would stop ; then we 
 were enabled again to get into our sledges, but not till 
 the driver had blinded the animals' eyes. But one 
 time, one of the wildest and most spirited horses in 
 our train, having taken flight, and completely made 
 his escape, the peasant who conducted him, unable 
 any longer to endure the fatigue and pain of being 
 dragged through the ice, let go his hold of the bridle. 
 The horse, relieved from his weight, and feeling him- 
 self at perfect liberty, redoubled his speed, and sur- 
 mounted every impediment ; the sledge, which he 
 made to dance in the air, by alarming his fears, added 
 wings to his flight. When he had fled a considerable 
 distance from us, he appeared, from time to time, as a 
 dark spot, which continued to diminish in the air, and 
 at last totally vanished from our sight. And now the 
 peasant, who was the owner of the fugitive, taking 
 one of the sledges, went in search of him, trying to 
 find him again by following the traces of his flight. 
 As for ourselves, we made the best of our way to one 
 of the isles of Aland, keeping as nearly as we could, 
 in the middle of the same plain, still being repeatedly 
 overturned, and always in danger of losing one or 
 other of our horses, which would have occasioned a 
 very serious embarrassment. During the whole of this 
 journey on the ice, we did not meet with so much as a 
 man, a beast, a bird, or any living creature. These vast
 
 410 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 solitudes present a desert abandoned, as it were, by 
 nature. The dead silence that reigns is interrupted 
 only by the whistling of the winds against the pro- 
 minent points of ice, and sometimes by the loud crack- 
 ings occasioned by their being irresistibly torn from 
 this frozen expanse ; pieces thus forcibly broken off, 
 are frequently blown to a considerable distance. 
 Through the rents produced by these ruptures, you 
 may see the watery abyss below ; and it is sometimes 
 necessary to lay planks across these rents, as bridges, 
 for the sledges to pass over. 
 
 "After considerable fatigue, and having refreshed our 
 horses, about half way on the high sea, we at length 
 touched at the small island of Signilskar, about thirty- 
 five English miles distant from where we started ; but 
 from the turnings we were obliged to make, not less 
 than ten miles might be added. All this while, how- 
 ever, we were kept in anxious suspense about the fu- 
 gitive horse, supposing him lost in the abyss ; we had 
 even prepared to continue our journey, and had put on 
 new horses to the sledges, when, with inexpressible 
 pleasure, we espied the two sledges that went in pur- 
 suit, returning with the fugitive. The animal was in 
 the most deplorable condition imaginable ; his body 
 was covered all over with sweat and foam, and was still 
 enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Still we did noti dare 
 to come near him ; the excessive fatigue of his violent 
 course had not abated his ferocity ; he was as much 
 alarmed at the sight of our pelisses as before ; he 
 snorted, bounded, and beat the snow and ice with his 
 feet ; nor could the utmost exertions of the peasants 
 to hold him fast have prevented him from once more 
 making his escape if we had not retired to some dis- 
 tance, and removed the sight and scent of our pelisses. 
 From Signilskar, we pursued our journey through the 
 whole of the Isle of Aland, where you meet with post- 
 houses, that is to say, places where you may get 
 horses. You travel partly by land, and partly over 
 the ice of the sea. The distance between some of
 
 HORSE. 411 
 
 these islands is not. less than eight or ten miles. On 
 the 1 sea, the natives have had the precaution of fixing 
 branches of trees, or putting small pines along the 
 whole route for the guidance of travellers in the night- 
 time, or directing them how to find out the right way 
 after the falls of snow." 
 
 The celebrated Arab horses are indeed models of 
 beauty, fleetiiess, strength, and docility. The three 
 first qualifications they receive by inheritance, but the 
 last is derived entirely from the kind treatment that 
 the animal meets with at the hand of its master. 
 An Arab horse lives with its master's family, and is 
 treated quite as if it were a member of that family. 
 From its earliest youth it is accustomed to live among 
 the children, who tumble about it, hang on by its ears 
 and tail, and take all kinds of liberties, which are 
 never resented by the gentle creature. 
 
 AY hen a foal is born, it is the custom to assemble a 
 conclave of the chief men, and to draw up a genealogy 
 and account of the new-born horse. This warrautry 
 is generally sewn up in a leathern bag, and fastened 
 about the horse's neck. Here is a specimen of a 
 warrantry given with an Arab horse. The account is 
 taken from the " Court Journal :" 
 
 " This horse, the sire of Babhamy, equal in power 
 to his son, is of the tribe of Zazzalah, and descends 
 from the uncle of Lahadah, the sire of Alket, is of a 
 fine figure, and fleet as an ostrich ; herewith is his 
 tooth, when a colt, in a bag, with his pedigree, which 
 a Caffre may believe. Among the honours of rela- 
 tionship, he reckons Zalwah, the sire of Mahat, who 
 was the sire of Kallak, and the unique Alket, sire of 
 Manasseh, sire of Alsheh, from generation to genera- 
 tion, down from the noble horse Lahalala. And npon 
 him be green herbage in abundance, and the waters of 
 life, with an edifice enclosed with walls, a reward from 
 the tribe of Zoab, for the fire of his race ; and let a 
 thousand cypresses shade his body from the hyena of 
 the tombs, froni the wolf, and the serpents of the
 
 412 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 plain ; within the enclosure a festival shall be kept, 
 and at sunrise thousands shall come, and observers 
 arrive in troops, whilst the tribe exhibits, under a 
 canopy of celestial signs, the saddle and the name, 
 and the place of the tribe of Bek Altabek, in Mesopo- 
 tamia, and Kulasla of Lutarek, of the inspired tribe 
 of Zoab. Then shall they strike with a loud noise, 
 and ask of Heaven, in solemn prayer, immunity for 
 the tribe from evil and the demon of languor, from 
 pestilence, from wandering from God, from scabby 
 camels, from scarcity, from perplexed congregations, 
 from the spleen, from the fiery dragon, from commixa- 
 tion, from beating on the feet, from treading out with 
 the feet, from Heiubnu, or the unknown son of an 
 unknown father, from lameness at birth, from impost- 
 humes, from seclusions, and from fascination, from 
 depression and elevation, from cracks in the feet, from 
 numerous assemblies, from importunate soothsayers, 
 from the offspring of prophets and nocturnal tra- 
 vellers, from diviners of good opportunity for a pur- 
 pose, from relations and degrees of affinity, and from 
 rash and inordinate riders, deliver this tribe, Lord, 
 and secure those who are slow to follow and slow to 
 advance, who guard the truth and observe it." 
 
 With such an animal as this, the Arab is happy 
 even in the midst of poverty. Riches are nothing to 
 him, as long as he can keep possession of his beloved 
 horse. Very many times have Arabs been tempted 
 to part with their horse for a sum which would have 
 enriched them for life, but very few, indeed, have 
 yielded, and purchased wealth by the loss of that ani- 
 mal, that to them was more valuable than wealth. 
 One Arab, who had been forced, from the pressure 
 of poverty to do so, was in the habit of coming daily 
 to see his favourite, and would sit by her and talk to 
 her for hours at a time. 
 
 And well does the noble animal repay such kind- 
 ness. It follows its master about like a dog, it shields 
 him from the rays of the sun, is never so happy as when
 
 HORSE. 413 
 
 bearing its master on its back, and it has been known to 
 render him even more valuable service. There is still 
 extant a record of an Arab horse who, with its master, 
 was taken captive by an adverse tribe. During the 
 night the man contrived to drag himself to the place 
 where his favourite animal was picketed, and, bound 
 as he was, to loosen its bonds. He knew full well 
 that the horse would at once return to his own tribe, 
 and that his return without his owner would cause 
 an alarm among the tribe. However, the horse, when 
 free, refused to stir, and not all the whispered com- 
 mands of his master could induce him to move. He 
 seemed to be quite at a loss to discover why his master 
 did not at once mount on his back, instead of lying 
 helpless on the ground. At last the truth flashed on 
 him. He stooped over his prostrate master, grasped 
 his robe between his teeth, lifted him from the ground, 
 and dashed out of the hostile encampment at full 
 speed ; nor did he slacken his speed until he arrived 
 at the encampment of his own tribe. He laid his 
 bound and wounded master at the door of his tent, 
 and then sank lifeless to the ground. 
 
 The manner in which a well-bred Arab horse ac- 
 companies his master on a journey is well described 
 by Lieutenant Wellstead : 
 
 " The day before Sayyid came into my hands, he 
 had been presented to the Imaum by a Nejd sheikh. 
 Heared in domesticity, and accustomed to share the 
 tent of some Arab family, he possessed in an extraor- 
 dinary degree, all the gentleness and docility, as well 
 as the fleetness, which distinguish the pure breed of 
 Arabia. To avoid the intense heat and rest their 
 camels, the Bedouins frequently halted during my 
 journey for an hour about mid-day. On these occa- 
 sions Sayyid would remain perfectly still while I re- 
 posed on the sand, screened by the shadow of his 
 body. My noon repast of dates he always looked for 
 and shared. Whenever we halted, after unsaddling 
 him and taking off his bridle with my own hands, he
 
 414 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. _J 
 
 was permitted to roam about the encampment without 
 control. At sunset he came for his corn at the 
 sound of my voice, and during the night, without 
 being fastened, he generally took up his quarters at a 
 few yards from his master. During my coasting 
 voyages along the shore, he always accompanied me, 
 and even in a crazy open boat from Muskat to India. 
 My health having compelled me to return to England 
 overland, I could not in consequence bring Sayyid 
 with me. In parting with this faithful attached crea- 
 ture, so long the -companion of my perils and wander- 
 ings, I am not ashamed to acknowledge that I felt an 
 emotion similar to what is experienced in being sepa- 
 rated from a tried and valued friend." 
 
 The same animal once saved him from the pursuit 
 of a number of Arab robbers, on whom he came unex- 
 pectedly, and only escaped by the speed of his horse. 
 Perhaps the beauty of the animal was as much his 
 preservation as its speed, for the pursuers could easily 
 have shot the horse at first, but were deterred by their 
 wish to possess it unhurt. 
 
 It is said that when an Arab horse is sold it refuses 
 to obey its new master until its former owner puts the 
 bridle, with his own hand, into that of the purchaser, 
 and formally delivers it over with a speech which the 
 horse is supposed to understand. 
 
 The Arabian horse furnishes one of the most va- 
 luable constituents in our present breed of race-horses. 
 The " Darley Arabian" was the original horse from 
 which the Arab mixture came. The animal was im- 
 ported from Palmyra in the reign of Queen Anne. 
 Indeed several of our most celebrated racers have been 
 pure Arabs. Such were the " Grodolphin Arabian," 
 and Chillaby, the "Mad Arabian," so called from his 
 ferocity ; for only one groom was permitted by the 
 animal to approach it ; and on one occasion, when its 
 owner put a stuffed effigy of a man in its way, it rushed 
 at the image, and tore it to pieces. 
 
 One of the most celebrated of our race-horses was
 
 HORSE. 415 
 
 the '^wonderful " Eclipse." There was not much to 
 recommend it in its outward appearance, for it was a 
 great gaunt, ungainly animal, with an awkward mode 
 of carrying its head, and a bad habit of "roaring." 
 Yet in speed the animal was unrivalled, and at one 
 race, its rider was actually seen to be endeavouring to 
 hold it back, in order that it should not get too far in 
 front of the other horses. It is believed that the 
 animal never did put forth its full speed. " Eclipse " 
 at last died, after a long life, during which he won 
 many races, but latterly was not permitted to run, 
 because he would have been certain of winning. So 
 he staid quietly at home, while the owners of the other 
 horses paid his master large sums to withdraw him 
 from the list. He left behind a numerous progeny of 
 racers, I believe about one hundred and thirty or so. 
 His skeleton is now in the Ashmolean Museum at 
 Oxford. The person who mounted the skeleton has 
 well preserved- the very ungainly attitude generally 
 assumed by the horse when living, and many of its pe- 
 culiarities can be discerned even in the scaffolding of 
 dry bones which remains as the memorial of this 
 wonderful horse. 
 
 It is useless to deny the charge of cruelty that is 
 often brought against the custom of racing. It is 
 cruel without a doubt, but yet the horses themselves 
 are actuated with as much desire to win the race as 
 their riders, and have even been known to fight with 
 each other when engaged in a race. 
 
 In some parts of the Continent, such as Borne, on 
 the Carnival, there are horse-races managed in rather 
 a singidar manner, the horses being without riders. 
 They are urged to the top of their speed by metal 
 balls covered with spikes, which, being suspended to 
 strings on their backs, are flung about with every 
 movement, and goad the poor animals into a state of 
 fury. 
 
 I have already mentioned the aptitude of the horse 
 for remembering those places where it has been ac-
 
 416 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 customed to visit. I was once nearly thrown from a gig 
 on account of the memory of a horse. Having occa- 
 sion to visit a village at some distance, a friend pro- 
 mised to obtain the loan of a horse and gig for the 
 journey. At the appointed time the apparatus arrived, 
 drawn by a sharp-looking pony. He was very unwill- 
 ing to stop at all, and when requested to move again, 
 he got up on his hind legs, and came down again 
 in precisely the same place. This he repeated several 
 times, until my companion led him at a trot a few 
 yards, and then jumped in, while the vehicle was in 
 motion. Once started, his eccentricities ended, and 
 he went on steadily to the end of his journey. When 
 the evening began to draw on, we set off home again, 
 with the same ceremonies that accompanied our start. 
 The night grew darker and darker, and we were 
 going on very steadily, but not able to see two yards 
 before the pony's head, when the animal gave a 
 sudden lurch to the right, and dashed up a steep 
 bank three or four feet in height, gig and all. How 
 we got to the top I never could tell, but we went 
 down again by a gentle slope which we had passed. 
 It appeared that the pony's owner was of a convivial 
 turn of mind, and had been accustomed to halt and 
 refresh himself and pony at a public-house on the top 
 of the bank. 
 
 The most singular use of horses is that in practice 
 near St. Francisco. On Easter-day the inhabitants 
 have a kind of Guy Faux business, the object being 
 Judas Iscariot. They make a puppet to represent 
 the traitor, and, after firing at it with blank cartridge 
 for an hour or so, the following events take place. 
 The account is taken from Grerstacker's travels : 
 
 " After having first thrown the steed on the ground 
 by means of the lasso, and then blindfolded her, he 
 buckled a strap round her waist, which caused the 
 fiery animal to bound with a shriek of terror ; after 
 which she threw herself down, trying, by rolling her- 
 self about and kicking, to get rid of what she mistook
 
 ASS. 417 
 
 for ajmrden imposed upon her. Tet all her efforts 
 were in vain. Judas Iscariot was cleverly put on her 
 back, notwithstanding all her furious plunging and 
 rearing ; and soon the mare, with the new but de- 
 cently-dressed Mazeppa, ran off like an arrow down 
 the street, and in the direction of the mountains, 
 among the triumphant yells of the multitude, and 
 pursued by the Spaniards, who were now nearly all 
 of them mounted. 
 
 " The puppet hung to the back of the snorting ani- 
 mal like a mad hobgoblin, nodding its head and 
 flinging its arms in the most comical manner, whilst 
 the other horsemen, who were racing after it, might be 
 compared to the spectral followers of the wild hunters. 
 The object of this mad pursuit was to cut off the poor 
 animal from its retreat to the mountains, in order that 
 the ladies, watching the sport from the verandah, 
 might not so soon be deprived of their amusement. 
 Valentine distinguished himself here, as well by his 
 nimbleness as by the cruelty with which, catching the 
 mare by the tail, he threw her over, and brought her 
 forcibly back to the place from whence she had started. 
 At last the poor tortured animal, completely worn 
 out by her fright, as well as by the unwonted exertion, 
 was no longer able to keep up. She fell, and neither 
 blows nor other ill-usage made any impression on her." 
 
 ASS.* 
 
 This very respectable, although hardly aristocratic 
 animal, has suffered much from the mistaken ideas of 
 men, who first ill-treat it in every way, and then 
 abuse it because its temper suffers in consequence of 
 their ill-treatment. 
 
 It has been already remarked that the connection 
 between a rude man and a bear is difficult to be 
 traced, and the same difficulty will be found in ascer- 
 taining the reason why a stupid man is called an ass. 
 
 * Asinus vulguris. 
 
 E
 
 418 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 In the first place we must understand that the ass, 
 as we see him in our country, worn down by cruelty 
 and fatigue, ragged from neglect, and gaunt from 
 hunger, his natural spirit gone, and its place supplied 
 by a mixture of obstinacy and cunning, is hardly to 
 be recognised for the swift, spirited animal that roams 
 at large over the plains of Persia, India, and the 
 northern parts of Russia. Michael Armstrong him- 
 self, in his worst days, is not a greater contrast with 
 a wild Scotch lad than is the ordinary ass with the 
 khur, or wild ass of Persia. No one who wishes to 
 make a fair calculation of the wealth and intelligence 
 of London would prosecute his researches in Seven 
 Dials or Whitechapel, nor ought we to form an esti- 
 mate of the intelligence of a race merely from some 
 persecuted individuals of it. Moreover, even did we do 
 so, we should not be quite correct in affixing the brand 
 of stupidity on this animal. Let any one turn an old 
 ass into a field and try to mount and ride him, and 
 after an hour or so the ass will not appear a very 
 stupid animal. Even a party of boys find no small 
 difficulty in achieving the capture, and when they 
 have driven the animal into a corner it is not so easy 
 to mount it, for its hind legs seem to be animated 
 with the spirit of the famous steam leg, and launch 
 volleys of kicks in every direction where an enemy 
 approaches from the rear, while its ready mouth is 
 perfectly capable of defending the front. But even 
 should an adventurous youth succeed in mounting on 
 its back, his triumph is often but short-lived, for the 
 ass generally refuses to stir an inch from its place, 
 or jumps about with such strange contortions, that 
 the rider is left sprawling on the ground, while the 
 animal dashes through its persecutors, taken off their 
 guard by their companion's fall, and regains the open 
 field. Sometimes, on finding that its rider is not to 
 be unseated by such means, it lies down and delibe- 
 rately rolls over, or puts him to excruciating torture 
 by grinding his leg against a wall or the rough stem
 
 ASS. 419 
 
 of atree. It has been known, in such cases, to walk 
 into a pool and lie down there, leaving the rider to 
 scramble out as he could. 
 
 It is an animal of considerable endurance, although 
 not possessed of swiftness or much strength. In 
 some parts of Ireland asses are used to draw carts 
 from a mine and back again. They leave the mine 
 by day, draw their load, wait while it is discharged, 
 and return again. The drivers, after the load is dis- 
 charged, start the vehicle in its homeward course, lie 
 down in the cart, and go to sleep, while the ass has 
 to finish the journey by its own sagacity. When the 
 poor animal sleeps is very problematical. 
 
 In England the use of the ass as a riding animal is 
 generally confined to the sweeps or dustboys,who perch 
 themselves on the extreme end of the spine, and ap- 
 pear as satisfied with their steed as if it were the 
 handsomest horse in the world. 
 
 But in the East, where the ass is comparatively a 
 noble animal, it is used for riding almost exclusively 
 by the rich and great. The Arabian asses are said to 
 be the best, to carry their head gracefully, and to 
 throw out their legs elegantly in walking or galloping. 
 They are valued very highly, and are decorated with 
 rich caparisons by their riders. A variety of this 
 animal is white, and is used only for personages of 
 the highest distinction. This custom is alluded to in 
 the Book of Judges, " Speak ye that ride on white 
 asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the ways." 
 
 The ass is distinguished from the horse by differ- 
 ences so essential, that Mr. Gray has placed it in a 
 different genus. The principal distinction is the 
 manner in which the hair is set on the tail. The hair 
 of the horse's tail is very abundant, and entirely 
 covers the tail itself, concealing its form, whereas that 
 of the ass is comparatively scanty, and only springs 
 from the extremity of the tail. The mane, too, is 
 different both in length and shape. That of the horse 
 is very long, and hangs down on one side of its neck, 
 
 E E 2
 
 420 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 but that of the ass is shorter, stubby, and forms a 
 mere ridge down its neck. There is also a black 
 mark running along the spine, and another crossing 
 the shoulders the two forming a cross. There is a 
 very ancient tradition that this cross was placed upon 
 the ass as a memorial of the time when the Saviour rode 
 upon the ass in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 
 
 When the ass is properly treated, it is really an 
 intelligent animal, and can be taught to perform many 
 tricks. In the pages of our friend Topsell, there is a 
 circumstantial account of the exploits of a " learned 
 ass :" 
 
 " There was a cunning player in Africa, in a city 
 called Alcair, who taught an asse divers strange tricks 
 or feats, for, in a publick spectacle, turning to his 
 asse (being on a scaffold to shew sport), said, ' The 
 great Sultan proposeth to build him an house, and 
 shall need all the asses of Alcair to fetch and carry 
 wood, stones, lime, and other necessaries for that 
 business.' Presently the asse falleth down, turneth 
 up his heels into the air, groaneth, and shutteth his 
 eyes fast, as if he had been dead ; while he lay thus, 
 the player desired the beholders to consider his estate, 
 for his asse was dead ; he was a poor man, and, there- 
 fore, moved them to give him money to buy another 
 asse. In the meantime, having gotten as much money 
 as he could, he told the people he was not dead, but 
 knowing his master's poverty, counterfeited in that 
 manner, whereby he might get money to buy him 
 provender, and, therefore, he turned again to his 
 asse, and bid him arise, but he stirred not at all ; 
 then did he strike and beat him sore (as it seemed) 
 to make him arise, but all in vain, the asse laid still. 
 Then said the player again, ' Our Sultan hath com- 
 manded that to-morrow there be a great triumph 
 without the city, and that all the noble women shall 
 ride thither upon the fairest asses, and this night 
 they must be fed with oates, and have the best water 
 of JNilus to drink.' At the hearing whereof, up
 
 ASS. 421 
 
 started the asse, snorting and leaping for joy. Then 
 said the player, 'The Governor of this town hath 
 desired me to lend him this, my asse, for his old 
 deformed wife to ride upon,' at which words the asse 
 hangeth down his ears, and understanding like a 
 reasonable creature, began to halt as if his legs had 
 been out of joint. ' Why,' but said the player, ' had 
 thou lifer carry a fair young woman ? ' The asse 
 wagged his head in token of consent to that bargain ; 
 ' Go, then,' (said the player,) ' and among all these 
 fair women, chuse one that thou mayest carry;' then 
 the asse looketh round about the assembly, and at 
 last went to a sober woman, and touched her with 
 his nose, whereat the residue wondered and laughed, 
 shutting up the sport with crying out, 'An assess 
 woman ! An asse's woman ! ' and so the player went 
 unto another town." 
 
 The racing instinct appears strong in man. Who 
 has not heard of the famous race of two drops of rain 
 down a window, and the manner in which it became a 
 drawn race by the two drops coalescing before they 
 reached the goal ? Small boys race hoops, and whip 
 tops against each other, while the big boys turn the 
 little ones into racers for their amusement, the prize 
 being generally a negative one, viz. to escape being 
 pelted at thirty paces' distance. Even naval officers, 
 when they can find no vessel to race against, content 
 themselves with putting two biscuit maggots against 
 each other, in a course over a plate. So donkeys are 
 occasionally metamorphosed into racers, the object 
 being diametrically opposite to that of horse races, 
 the last donkey gaining the prize. Each rider mounts 
 his opponent's donkey, and tries to bring it in before 
 his own, and thereby to win the " highlows," or the 
 real beaver hat, brilliant with its many-coloured 
 ribbons. These amusements are generally carried on 
 at wakes and fairs, and are supposed to be restricted 
 to such places. But there are other places where 
 donkey races are run for hats, the only difference
 
 
 422 
 
 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 being that the hat, instead of being beaver berib- 
 boned, is gold bejewelled, and not unfrequently is 
 very hurtful to the head. 
 
 As a proof of the real qualities of the ass, if it is 
 treated in a proper manner, we may cite that animal 
 mentioned by Mr. Bell as having being used as & 
 hunter : 
 
 " The most remarkable instance, within my own 
 knowledge, was that of an ass in the possession 
 of an ancestor of mine, who, from age and disease, 
 was obliged to give up riding on horseback, and be- 
 take himself to the easier exercise of this animal's 
 more gentle paces. ' General,' for that was the name 
 of the ass in question, was of an unusual stature, at 
 least for those bred in this country ; his pace was 
 easy and free, but swift, perhaps, beyond example ; 
 and many times before my grandfather obtained him, 
 he had been in at the death, after a tolerably hard fox- 
 chase. Matches had often been made, and asses of 
 unusual power and fleetness had been placed against 
 him, but he never met with a competitor. He was 
 docile also, and gentle ; and having survived his 
 master, to the comfort of whose latter days he had 
 essentially contributed, he spent the remainder of his 
 life in ease and idleness, and, at his death, was buried 
 with due honours in his own little paddock." 
 
 The sure-footedness of this animal is almost as 
 wonderful as that of the goat, and is applied to a 
 more useful purpose. Asses are employed in the 
 passage over the Alps or Andes ; over rough roads 
 that no horseman yet could pass, they continue to 
 make their way, and do so even when having a rider 
 on their back. The "road" on which they have to 
 travel is generally a mere projection from the face of 
 a cliff, the rock rising in a perpendicular wall on the 
 one hand, while . the precipice yawns on the other. 
 A hasty step, or even an inadvertent blow against 
 the rocky wall, is sufficient to hurl the traveller over the 
 cliff into the cavern below. This would be sufficiently
 
 ASS. 423 
 
 dangerous, even if the path were level, but, as it is 
 frequently very steep or very narrow, forming decli- 
 vities of several hundred yards, it becomes a very 
 serious matter to attempt the passage over such a 
 road, which, in addition to these evils, is always 
 winding, and frequently strewed with loose stones. 
 Nothing but their instinct would guide the animals 
 down these terrific passes, and even that instinct is 
 sorely tried. The rider must let the animal have its 
 own way, and suffer the bridle to hang loose, for a check 
 upon the ass while descending one of these paths 
 would be certain to destroy its balance, and to preci- 
 pitate both ass and rider over the rocks. The mode 
 in which the animal accomplishes its descent is very 
 remarkable. When it arrives at one of these dan- 
 gerous paths, it stands still for some time, eying the 
 road down which it has to pass, and appears to 
 make up its mind respecting the mode of procedure. 
 Having stood for some time thus ruminating, and 
 occasionally snuffing at the road with its nose, having 
 apparently settled a plan in its head, it places its 
 fore feet forwards, as if it were stopping itself, and 
 puts its hind feet together, placing them also forward. 
 In this attitude it slides down the descent with as- 
 tonishing swiftness, and contrives, in some myste- 
 rious manner, to steer its way through all the wind- 
 ings of the road. 
 
 Mules, often used for the same purpose, have appa- 
 rently derived the art from their asinine ancestors. 
 
 The antipathy that exists between the horse and 
 the ass is well known, and has been known for ages, 
 as it forms the basis of one of the fables attributed to 
 ^Esop. But the antipathy usually lies on the side of 
 the horse, that animal disdaining the company of so 
 humble a personage as the ass. Possibly this may be 
 the case because a solitary horse is stronger than a 
 solitary ass ; at all events, when the latter animal is 
 in power, it fully reciprocates the feeling. In Quito, 
 where there are large herds of asses, a horse is not
 
 424 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 only not permitted to live among them, but not even 
 to come into their grazing grounds. If an unfortu- 
 nate horse does happen to stray into the domains 
 of one of their herds, the asses immediately assault 
 him, and cease not from their bites and kicks until 
 they have left him dead on the spot. 
 
 These Quito asses are the descendants of those 
 that were imported into America by the Spaniards. 
 They are exceedingly swift, and can pursue their 
 course among rocks and declivities where no horse 
 can follow them. As is the case with the wild 
 horses, they are nominally private property, but in 
 reality can be. taken by any one who chooses to take 
 the trouble of catching them, the owner only requiring 
 a small sum for e"ach day's hunt. They are caught 
 with the lasso in the same manner as the wild horse, 
 only they are rather more difficult to manage, on 
 account of the skilful way in which they defend them- 
 selves with their teeth and hoofs. 
 
 It is rather remarkable, that although these animals 
 are so vicious and spirited, yet, after they have borne 
 their first load, their speed and spirit leave them, and 
 they assume the ordinary asinine look of dullness and 
 stupidity. 
 
 There are several species included under the genus 
 ' Asinus.' The Zebra,* the Dauw,f the Quagga,J 
 and the Dzigguetai, all belong to this genus. 
 
 The zebra and the dauw closely resemble each 
 other, the differences of locality being, that the true 
 zebra is found among the mountainous and rocky 
 districts of Southern Africa, while the dauw, or Bur- 
 chell's zebra, inhabits the plains. There is also a 
 difference in the aspect of the body, as the ears of the 
 dauw are shorter than those of the zebra, and the 
 stripes are of a lighter colour, and are not continued 
 round the body or on the limbs. The zebra has never 
 
 * Asinus Zebra. ( A sinus Burchellii. 
 
 J Asinus Quagga. Asinus Hermionus.
 
 ASS. 425 
 
 been* brought under entire subjection to man. Some- 
 times an individual has been partially trained to bear 
 a saddle, or to draw a carriage, but even these ani- 
 mals are not to be trusted, as their savage nature 
 continually breaks through their superficial civilisa- 
 tion, and renders them rather dangerous. There are, 
 however, mules between the zebra and the common 
 ass, which are powerful animals, and are forced to 
 work as well as can be expected. . 
 
 It is rather curious to mark the development of 
 the stripes in the various species of asses. The zebra 
 has the stripes extending over the whole body and 
 limbs, even including the tail and the fetlocks. The 
 dauw is striped like the zebra, only the marks are of 
 a lighter colour, and are confined "to the upper parts 
 of the body and the head. The quagga is destitute of 
 stripes on the hinder parts, and the limbs, but the 
 face, neck, and shoulders resemble those of the dauw, 
 with the exception that the general colour has a more 
 indistinct appearance; while in the dzigguetai and 
 the common ass the only remnant of the stripes is the 
 black line along the spine and across the shoulders. 
 
 The flesh of the dzigguetai is considered a great 
 delicacy by those who inhabit the countries where it 
 is found. From its skin is made the celebrated 
 " shagreen," a well-known substance used for cover- 
 ing instrument cases, boxes, and other articles. The 
 granulated effect is produced in a very ingenious man- 
 ner. The skin is softened for some time in water 
 and scraped perfectly level, small hard seeds are 
 then strewed upon its surface, and a heavy roller is 
 passed over it, forcing the seeds into its substance. 
 The skin is then dried, leaving the seeds in their 
 places. The next part of the process is to beat out 
 the seeds, and the skin is then subjected to the action 
 of a plane, which cuts away the skin to the level of the 
 depressions made by the seeds. The hide is then 
 again soaked in water, which causes it to swell, when 
 the places which had been pressed by the seeds, and
 
 426 ANECDOTES OF ANIMAL LIFE. 
 
 had therefore escaped the action of the plane, resume 
 their former thickness, and form a series of little 
 knobs all over the skin. 
 
 The skin of the back is mostly used for this pur- 
 pose. Horses, mules, and asses all contribute their 
 skins for this purpose, although the hide of the wild 
 ass is reckoned the best. This shagreen is in great 
 request, as, although it is very hard when dry, it is 
 readily softened in water and works easily. There is 
 an imitation of shagreen in common use, formed from 
 certain fish skin's. 
 
 There are manufactures of shagreen in Russia, in 
 Poland, and in the Levant ; those of Constantinople 
 being reputed the best. 
 
 The dzigguetai is supposed to be the same animal as 
 the Khur, or Grhurkhud, of Persia. Supposing such to 
 be the case, we have an excellent example of its swift- 
 ness in an account given by Sir E. K. Porter of the 
 chase of one of these animals. 
 
 " The sun was just rising over the summits of the 
 eastern mountains, when my greyhound started off in 
 pursuit of an animal which my Persians said, from the 
 glimpse they had of it, was an antelope. I instantly put 
 spurs to lay horse, and with my attendants gave chase. 
 After an unrelaxed gallop of three miles, we came up 
 with the dog, who was then within a short stretch of 
 the creature he pursued, and to my surprise, and at 
 first vexation, I saw it to be an ass. Upon a moment's 
 reflection, however, judging from its fleetness it must 
 be a wild one, a creature little known in Europe, 
 but which the Persians prize, above all other animals, 
 as an object of chase, I determined to approach as 
 near to it as the very swift Arab I was on would carry 
 me. But the single instant of checking my horse to 
 consider had given our game such a head of us, that 
 notwithstanding all our speed we could not recover 
 our ground on him. I, however, happened to be con- 
 siderably before my companions, when at a certain 
 distance the animal in its turn made a pause, and
 
 ASS. 427 
 
 allowed me to approach within pistol shot of him ; he 
 then darted off again with the quickness of thought, 
 capering, kicking, and sporting in his flight, as if he 
 was not blown in the least, and the chase was his 
 pastime. When my followers of the country came 
 up, they regretted that I had not shot the creature 
 when he was within my aim, telling me that his flesh 
 is one of the greatest delicacies in Persia. The pro- 
 digious swiftness and peculiar manner in which he 
 fled across the plain coincided exactly with the de- 
 scription that Xenophon gives of the same animal in 
 Arabia. But above all, it reminded me of the strik- 
 ing portrait drawn by the author of the book of Job. 
 I was informed by the Mehmender, who had been in 
 the desert when making a pilgrimage to the shrine of 
 Ali, that the wild ass of Irak Arabi differs in nothing 
 from the one I had just seen. He had observed them 
 often for a short time in the possession of the Arabs, 
 who told him the creature was perfectly untameable. 
 A few days after this discussion we saw another of 
 these animals, and, pursuing it determinedly, had the 
 good fortune to kill it."
 
 INDEX. 
 
 < . 
 
 Pnge 
 
 
 Page 
 
 Ass .... 
 
 . 417 
 
 Jaguar 
 
 . 82 
 
 Badger 
 
 . 235 
 
 Leopard 
 
 . 72 
 
 Bats. 
 
 . 34 
 
 
 . 40 
 
 Bears 
 
 . 202 
 
 Mole 
 
 . 242 
 
 Beaver 
 
 . 284 
 
 Monkeys . 
 
 13 
 
 Bison 
 
 . 311 
 
 Moose 
 
 . 337 
 
 Camel 
 
 . 378 
 
 Mouse 
 
 . 273 
 
 Cat .... 
 
 89 
 
 Opossum . 
 
 . 260 
 
 Dear 
 
 . 324 
 
 Otter 
 
 . 125 
 
 Dog. 
 
 . 131 
 
 Oxen 
 
 . 300 
 
 Fox .... 
 
 . 190 
 
 Puma 
 
 . 88 
 
 Giraffe 
 
 . 367 
 
 Rabbit 
 
 . 292 
 
 Gnoo 
 
 . 339 
 
 Rat . 
 
 . 263 
 
 Goat 
 
 . 346 
 
 Sheep 
 
 . 349 
 
 Hare 
 
 . 291 
 
 Stag . 
 
 . 326 
 
 Hedgehog . 
 
 . 253 
 
 Stoat 
 
 . 119 
 
 Horse 
 
 . 388 
 
 Tiger 
 
 . 61 
 
 Hyaena 
 
 . 107 
 
 Wapiti 
 
 . 335 
 
 Ichneumon 
 
 . 123 
 
 Weasels 
 
 . 114 
 
 Introduction 
 
 . 1 
 
 Wolf 
 
 . 178 
 
 Jackal 
 
 . 200 
 
 
 
 
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