QUEER RELATIONS. 



N English terrier, despoiled of 

 her litter of puppies, wan- 

 dered around quite inconsol- 

 able. A brood of duck- 

 lings one day attracted 

 her attention. Notwithstanding their 

 quacks of protest, she seized them in 

 her mouth, bore them to her kennel, 

 and with the most affectionate anxiety 

 followed them about, giving them, in 

 her own fashion, a mother's care. 



When the ducklings at length took 

 to water, her alarm knew no bounds. 

 "You dreadful children," her sharp 

 barks seemed to say when they returned 

 to land, and taking them in her mouth 

 bore them one by one back to safety, 

 as she thought, to the kennel. 



The year following, when again 

 deprived of her puppies, she adopted 

 two cock-chickens, rearing them with 

 the same care she had bestowed upon 

 the ducklings. Their voices, however, 

 when they grew older, greatly annoyed 

 her, and by various means their foster- 

 mother endeavored to stifle their 

 crowing. 



A hen that had selected an unused 

 manger in which to lay her eggs, and 

 rear her brood, found that the barn cat 

 had also selected the same place in 

 which to pass her hours of repose. 

 The hen made no objection to the 

 presence of Mrs. Tabby, and vice-verse, 

 so that a strong frendship in time grew 

 up between the two. 



Things went on very smoothly, the 

 hen placidly sitting on her eggs, while 

 Mrs. Tabby came and went at will, 



spending at least half her time beside 

 her companion as friendly as though 

 she were a sister cat. 



Vainly did the hen sit, vainly did she 

 turn her eggs. All the warmth in the 

 world would not have hatched a chick 

 from the stale eggs beneath her. 



Mrs. Tabby, however, had better 

 luck. To the hen's amazement she 

 found beneath her very nose one 

 morning five squirming furry little 

 creatures which might havebeen chicks 

 but were not. Certainly they were 

 young of some sort, she reflected, and 

 with true motherly instinct she lent 

 her aid to their proper bringing up. 



The kittens thrived, but unfor- 

 tunately, when still of tender age were 

 deprived, by death of their mother. 

 All but one of her offspring found 

 comfortable homes elsewhere, and that 

 one received the devoted attention of 

 the hen during the whole of that 

 summer. 



" To see it going between the house 

 and barn clucking for the kitten," says 

 Dr. Beadner in Our Animal Friends, 

 u was indeed a funny sight, and quite 

 as remarkable to see the kitten run to 

 her when she made the peculiar call 

 that chickens understand means some- 

 thing to eat. At night and during 

 the resting hours of the daytime, kittie 

 would crawl under the warm wings of 

 her foster mother ; and the brooding 

 hen and her nestling kitten were happy 

 and contented, little dreaming and 

 caring less that they were so far from 

 being related to each other." 



233 



