170 ANIMAL ANTIPATHIES OVERCOME. 



broken of her propensity to kill birds, and lived seve- 

 ral years without molesting a dove, a lark, and a red- 

 breast, that were kept tame, and used to fly about 

 the room where the cat was daily admitted. The 

 dove frequently sat on pussy's back, and the little 

 birds would peck fearlessly from the same plate out 

 of which she was eating. 



A gentleman at Belfast* had a dog that was re- 

 markable for pursuing and destroying birds when 

 abroad in the fields ; but he overcame this propensity 

 so far as to allow a tame quail to run through 

 the house with him, lie before the parlour fire be- 

 side him, and when, from longer acquaintance, 

 he had become more familiar, he suffered it to run 

 over him, and seemed to look at it with great 

 complacency, as if pleased that it trusted to his gene- 

 rosity. 



Many creatures have carried this friendly dispo- 

 sition much further than mere association ; for I 

 have heard of several instances of the young of one 

 race being nourished and protected by a female of 

 a different kind; nay, even when the strongest 

 antipathy naturally subsisted between them. Mr. 

 White, of Selbourne, asserts, that a cat suckled a 

 hare, which followed her about the garden, and came 

 jumping to her call of affection. 



* Mr. Templeton. 



