180 THE ART OF TRAINING AXIMALS. 



queer subject, remarks : " Behold those men who pass their lives 

 among animals, as cowherds, shepherds, swineherds, grooms, 

 and poachers, they always acquire something of the nature of 

 the animals with which they associate. It is thus that man be- 

 comes heavy and rude with the ox, filthy and a glutton with the 

 pig, simple with the sheep, courageous and an adept hunter 

 with the dog. In like manner the Arab is sober with his camel, 

 the Tartar rough and blunt as his horses, the Laplander timid 

 as his reindeer, the mountaineer active as the goat, the Hindoo 

 somber as his elephant, because it is man's fate to take the na- 

 ture of his animals when he cannot form their nature to his." 

 Without recommending the adoption of this writer's opinions 

 entirely, for much that he has stated is no doubt due to climate 

 and local causes, his theory is worthy of consideration by those 

 who have a fancy for this kind of speculation. 



A correspondent of the Agriculturist relates an amusing in- 

 stance of a sort of ^^ happy family " originated by the animals 

 themselves: "About a month since two cats had a ^family' 

 within a few days of each other. All the kittens were drowned 

 except two of each set, which with their respective mammas 

 were snugly settled in a couple of boxes in the same room. On 

 the following day both families entire — or rather what remained 

 of them — were found coiled up together in the same box. They 

 were not disturbed and thenceforward the two mothers ceased 

 to recognize any difference between the two pairs of kittens. 

 They would alternately nurse the whole lot, or both aflfectionate- 

 ly entwined together divide this ' labor of love' just as the kit- 

 tens, lying snugly between them, would happen to turn to the 

 one or the other. But this is not all. Eddie brought a couple 

 of young squirrels from the woods, which soon became very 

 gentle. In less than two days both were found in the box among 

 the cats and kittens, drawing from either or both the maternal 

 fontS; upon a like footing of equality and community with that 

 previously enjoyed hy the kittens. The old cats seemed to 

 acquiesce fully in the an-angement, and so it proceeded for a 

 couple of weeks, until one of the squirrels was accidentally killed. 

 The other having the freedom of the house is now a romping 

 playmate of both cats and kittens, who continue uniformly to 

 treat him as * one of the family.' " 



