OBSERVATIONS, &c. 449 



CAT AND SQUIRRELS. 



A boy has taken three little young squirrels in their nest, 

 or drey as it is called in these parts. These small creatures 

 he put under the care of a cat who had lately lost her kittens, 

 and finds that she nurses and suckles them with the same 

 assiduity and affection, as if they were her own offspring. 

 This circumstance corroborates my suspicion, that the men- 

 tion of exposed and deserted children being nurtured by 

 female beasts of prey who had lost their young, may not be so 

 improbable an incident as many have supposed; and therefore 

 may be a justification of those authors who have gravely 

 mentioned, what some have deemed to be a wild and im- 

 probable story. 



So many people went to see the little squirrels suckled by a 

 cat, that the foster mother became jealous of her charge, and 

 in pain for their safety; and therefore hid them over the 

 ceiling, where one died. This circumstance shews her affec- 

 tion for these fondlings, and that she supposes the squirrels to 

 be her own young. Thus hens, when they have hatched 

 ducklings, are equally attached to them as if they were her 

 own chickens. WHITE. 



HORSE. 



An old hunting mare, which ran on the common, being 

 taken very ill, ran down into the village, as it were, to implore 

 the help of men, and died the night following in the street. 



WHITE. 



HOUNDS. 



. 



The king's stag-hounds came down to Alton, attended by a 

 huntsman and six yeomen prickers, with horns, to try for the 



