184 MENTAL EVOLUTION IN ANIMALS. 



below it — a devotion which eventually cost her her life, as 

 she thus fell a prey to a prowling cat. Now here we have a 

 curious case of a bird that had been wild, taking a violent 

 fancy for the wholly useless companionship of another and 

 very dissimilar bird ; for it should be added that she chose 

 the peacock as the object of her persistent regard out of a 

 large number of other kinds of domestic birds which lived 

 about the place. 



Similarly, cats often like to associate with horses, and in 

 some cases with dogs, birds, rats, and other unlikely creatures. 

 Dogs not unfrequently make friendships with a variety of 

 animals, and in a case recorded by F. Cuvier a terrier found 

 so much delight in the companionship of a caged lion, that 

 when the lion died the dog pined away and died also. 

 Thompson gives cases in which horses have become " ex- 

 tremely attached to dogs and to cats, and seemed pleased to 

 have them placed on their backs in their stalls."* Eengger 

 mentions a monkey which was so fond of a dog that it cried 

 with grief during the absence of its friend, caressed it on its 

 return, and assisted it in all its quarrels with other dogs. 

 " A peccari in the menagerie at Paris formed a strong attach- 

 ment with one of the keeper's dogs, and a seal in the same 

 place allowed a little water-dog to play with it and to take 

 fish from its mouth, which it always resented if this were 

 attempted by the other seals in the same tank. Dogs have 

 lived on terms of friendship with gulls and ravens .... 

 and a rat has been known to accompany his master in his 

 walks," &c., &c.t 



Colonel Montagu, in the Supplement to his "Ornitho- 

 logical Dictionary," p. 165, relates the following singular 

 instance of an attachment which took place between a 

 Chinese goose and a pointer. " The dog had killed the male 

 bird, and had been most severely punished for the mis- 

 demeanour, and finally the dead body of his victim was tied 

 to his neck. The solitary goose became extremely distressed 

 for the loss of her partner and only companion ; and probably 

 having been attracted to the dog's kennel by the sight of her 

 dead mate, she seemed determined to persecute the dog by 

 her constant attendance and continual vociferations ; but 

 after a little time a strict friendship took place between these 

 incongruous animals. They fed out of the same trough, lived 



* Thompson, Passions of Animals, pp. 360-1. f Ibid. 



