169 

 OX THE INCONGRUOUS ATTACHMENT OF ANIMALS. 



BY MR, THOMAS FOGGITT. 



In almost every periodical I have the privilege of perusing, many at- 

 tractive and beautiful anecdotes concerning animals are recorded. Amongst 

 thera none prove to me more interesting than those illustrating strong 

 instances of their affection to their young, and, more especially, those 

 relating to the great attachment they frequently exhibit to .the young of 

 other species. Anecdotes on this subject I always read with the greatest 

 avidity, and deem them a fountain from whence emanates a never-failing 

 stream of pleasure. 



This incongruity of attachment occurs, almost without exception, when 

 the animal is deprived of a part, or the whole, of its progeny; consequently 

 we may infer that it is occasioned by a redundancy of superfluous milk. 

 When so, the mamma3 become over-distended, and the animal is made to 

 suffer the most extreme pain. It is then, uttering the most pitiable cries, 

 she wanders about in search of some other young, if not of her own kin, 

 of an incongruous nature, and when she has found the object of her per- 

 ambulations, allows thera to suck her without the least prohibition, and at 

 the same time expresses her gratitude by treating them as if they were 

 her own — fondling, caressing, and watching over them, defending and pro- 

 tecting thera from the encroachments of all others, which might look upon 

 them with a suspicious or predatory eye. 



Numerous and interesting anecdotes might be furnished for the illustration 

 of this subject, but the following, though brief, will probably suffice. The 

 first, which appeared in a Liverpool paper in the former part of the past 

 year, I now bring to the notice of the reader: — 



^'A cat, belonging to the Albert Dock Warehouse, Liverpool, gave birth 

 to six kittens. It was deemed necessary to destroy four of thera, and they 

 were accordingly drowned. The remaining two were placed, along with 

 the mother, in some loose cotton, collected for the purpose in a box, in 

 one of the warehouse rooms. On removing the box a few mornings after, 

 to give puss her usual breakfast, great curiosity was excited on seeing a 

 third juvenile added to the number, and the astonishment was still greater 

 when the third was discovered to be a young rat, which the cat had taken 

 from its nest in the night-time, and brought home as a companion to the 

 kittens she was then suckling. The young rat was very lively, and was 

 treated by the cat with the same attention and care as if it were one 

 of her own offspring." 



Another instance of this incongruous attachment I may as well narrate: 

 — A bitch, belonging to a person at Sutton^uadfiTi^Vhitestonecliff, in the 

 immediate vicinity of this place, after giy^^ ^ligw^hf I^M litter of puppies, 



VOL. \^. 



