ANIMALS REARED BY THE CAT. 171 



At Elford, near Lichfield^ a hare big with young 

 was shot; the young were taken from the mother 

 alive^, and the cat, who had just lost her own kittens, 

 caiTied them away, as was supposed, to eat them ; 

 but it appeared afterwards that she w^as excited by 

 a different motive, for she suckled and adopted them 

 as her own. 



It happened that some humane person, near Plais- 

 tow, seeing a puppy struggling in a pond, drew it out 

 half drowned: a cat, with truly maternal solici- 

 tude, licked, cleaned, warmed, suckled, and recover- 

 ed it.* 



Polito, in his menagerie, used to show a lion's 

 whelp, that had been brought up by a bitch, who, 

 though much inferior to it in size, acquired authority 

 over it. 



Cats seem particularly disposed to adopt the off- 

 spring of a stranger ; but the most extraordinary in- 

 stance that I have heard, was related to me by a 

 lady,t who was an eye-witness of the fact. Her 

 cat had a litter of kittens, that were kept in a hamper 

 in the cellar. In order to please her children, she 

 one day went down to see them. On looking into the 

 hamper, she found a young rat amongst the kittens, 

 which, she ordered to be taken out. But the next 



* Related by William Darton. 

 t Mrs. Bell, of Putney Heath. 



