CUBS REARED BY A CAT. 39 



vered ; and as they did not see until eleven days subsequently, 

 they were without doubt only recently born. 



" For the first day they were fed on milk, which they 

 sucked through a nipple- shaped piece of leather attached to a 

 bottle. But as immediately afterwards a cat happened to 

 breed, the kittens were taken from her, and the fox-cubs put in 

 their place. She appeared to receive the little strangers exceed- 

 ingly well, licked and fondled them, and brought them up as 

 her own. Two of them died between the tenth and fifteenth 

 day, but the remaining two grew rapidly, and continued 

 healthy and lively. 



" When pretty large, and chained to a kennel, the foster- 

 mother still persevered in her attentions and such conti- 

 nued until the month of August, when one day the cat by 

 accident got entangled in their chain. This annoying them, 

 they forthwith attacked her with such ferocity, that it was 

 with difficulty a person who was present succeeded in rescu- 

 ing her, though severely wounded, from the thankless teeth 

 and claws of her adopted brood. At a subsequent period, one 

 of the cubs contrived to make its escape." 



But the sequel of the story is the most curious part of the 

 affair ; for writing at an after-period, M. Nordenfeldt says : 

 "During a walk in the month of last July (1832), imme- 

 diately near to the house, I observed an unusual motion in a 

 field of standing rye, and presently to my astonishment a fox, 

 closely followed by the cat in question, made its appearance. 

 I afterwards learnt that the cat had for some time past 

 been in the habit of absenting herself from home during the 

 greater part of the day ; and that on one occasion she had 

 returned from the forest badly wounded. Thus it would 

 appear, that though she had been ill repaid for all her 



