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TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



universal, and nowhere are exceptions more fre- 

 quently found than among pigeons, which, with a 

 rare depth of wicked satire, have been selected 

 as types of matrimonial faith. 



The existence of hybrids shows a departure 

 from what Nature should enjoin. Such beings 

 have been produced respectively, not alone be- 

 tween the horse and the ass, but between the 

 horse and the quagga, the horse and the zebra, 

 the ass and the zebra, the lion and the tiger, the 

 hare and the rabbit (leporides), and between a 

 great variety of birds, of the poultry, pheasant, 

 grouse, duck, and finch groups. To the dismay 

 and indignation of certain theorists, some of these 

 hybrids are capable of reproduction. 



It has been objected that these instances oc- 

 cur only through human intervention. This is 

 by no means the fact. Hybrids between distinct 

 species of grouse have been met with in a wild 

 state. 



Instances of hybridism are likewise said to 

 have occurred between animals much more widely 

 remote in their respective natures. Such cases 

 are doubtful, and are certainly not essential to 

 our argument. But intercourse not unfrequently 

 takes place between animals of different species 

 where no offspring has been positively proved to 

 result. 



Many more instances of brute frailty might be 

 given were it needful or desirable. 



It has been asserted that "mere brutes " never 

 commit suicide. This is a wanton, it might be 

 said an impudent, assumption. If a negro, sold 

 into slavery, refuses food and starves himself to 

 death, as sometimes happened in the palmy days 

 of the " black ivory trade," men say that he has 

 committed suicide rather than live in bondage ; 

 but if an animal, bird, or reptile, taken away from 

 its native haunts and shut up in a cage, persist- 

 ently refuses food and dies in consequence, why 

 should not the same name be applied to conduct 

 precisely similar? Yet cases of this kind, in 

 which the love of liberty and independence as- 

 serts itself in flat defiance of the strongest of all 

 instincts, are by no means rare. There is great 

 difficulty in inducing some animals to eat in 

 captivity, even if supplied with the very kind of 

 food which they select when at large. As an 

 example, we may mention the common viper, 

 which generally starves itself to death in captiv- 

 ity, regardless of the offer of the choicest mice. 

 But there are many instances among domestic 

 animals, proving that life-weariness and the deter- 

 mination to end miseries in a sudden manner are 

 not confined to the human race. 



" Suicide by a Dog. — A day or two since a fine 

 dog, belonging to Mr. George Hone, of Frinds- 

 bury, near Rochester, committed a deliberate act 

 of suicide by drowning in the Medway, at Upnor, 

 Chatham. The dog had been suspected of having 

 given indications of approaching hydrophobia, 

 and was accordingly shunned and kept as much 

 as possible from the house. This treatment' ap- 

 peared to cause him much annoyance, and for 

 some days he was observed to be moody and 

 morose. On Thursday morning he proceeded to 

 an intimate acquaintance of his master's at Upnor, 

 on reaching the residence of whom, he set up a 

 piteous cry on finding that he could not obtain 

 admittance. After waiting at the house some 

 little time, he was seen to go toward the river 

 close by, when he deliberately walked down the 

 bank, and after turning round and giving a kind 

 of farewell howl, walked into the stream, where 

 he kept his head under water, and in a minute or 

 two rolled over dead. This extraordinary act of 

 suicide was witnessed by several persons. The 

 manner of the death proved pretty clearly that 

 the animal was not suffering from hydropho- 

 bia." — -(Daily Ncics.) 



"Suicide of a Horse. — A correspondent writes : 

 ' A few nights ago a poor creature, worn to skin 

 and bone, put an end to his existence in a very 

 extraordinary manner. His pedigree is unknown, 

 as he was quite a stranger. A. very worthy 

 gentleman here met him in a public market, and 

 thinking that he could find an employment for 

 him, put him to work, but it was soon discovered 

 that work was not his forte ; in fact, be would 

 do anything save work and go errands. His 

 great delight was to roam about the fields and 

 do mischief. People passing him used to ejacu- 

 late, " Ugh, you ugly brute " when they saw the 

 scowl which was continually on his face. His 

 master tried to win him by kindness. The kind- 

 ness was lost upon him. He next tried the whip, 

 then the cudgel, but all in vain. Work he would 

 not. And as a last resort the punishment of 

 Nebuchadnezzar of old was tried. He was turned 

 out, " but house or hauld," to cat grass with the 

 oxen. With hungry' belly and broken heart he 

 wended his lonely way down by the Moor's Shore 

 passed Luckyscaup, turned the Moor's Point, and 

 still held on his lonely way, regardless of the 

 wondering gaze of the Pool fishermen. At 

 length he arrived at a point opposite the wreck 

 of the Dalhousie, where he stood still ; and while 

 the curiosity of the fishermen was wound to the 

 highest pitch as to what was to follow, he, neigh- 

 ing loudly and tossing his old tail, rushed madly 



