them.”

    A gentleman once succeeded in taming a seal. It appeared to possess all the sagacity of the dog, lived in its master’s house, and ate from his hand. He usually took it with him in his fishing excursions, upon which occasions it afforded no small entertainment. When thrown into the water, it would follow for miles the track of the boat; and although thrust back by the oars, it never relinquished its purpose. Indeed, it struggled so hard to regain its seat, that one would imagine its fondness for its master had entirely overcome the natural predilection for its native element.

    In a park a fawn, drinking, was suddenly pounced upon by one of the swans, which pulled the animal into the water, and held it under until quite drowned. The atrocious action was observed by the other deer in the park, and did not long go unrevenged; for shortly after this very swan, which had hitherto never been molested by the deer, was singled out when on land, and furiously attacked by a herd, which surrounded and presently killed the offender.

    In a large north of England town a pair of strange rooks, after an unsuccessful attempt to effect a lodgment in a rookery at a little distance from the Exchange, were compelled to abandon the attempt, and to take refuge on the spire of a building; and although constantly molested by other rooks, they built their nest on the top of the vane, and there reared a brood of young ones, undisturbed by the noise of the populace below them. The nest and its inmates were of course turned about by every change of the wind. For ten years they continued to build their nest in the same place, soon after which the spire was taken down.

    On an estate in Scotland a terrier had a litter of whelps, which were immediately taken from her and drowned. The unfortunate mother was quite disconsolate, until, a few weeks after, she perceived a brood of ducklings, which she immediately seized and carried to her lair, where she retained them, following them out and in with the greatest care, and nursing them after her own fashion, with the most affectionate anxiety. When the ducklings, following their natural instinct, went into the water, their foster-mother exhibited the utmost alarm; and as soon as they returned to land, she snatched them up in her mouth, and ran home with them. What adds to the singularity of this circumstance is, that the same animal, when deprived of a litter of puppies the year preceding, seized two cock-chickens, which she reared with the like care she bestows upon her present family. When the young cocks began to try their 

 Prev. P 27/44 next