ODD FRIENDSHIPS 159 



the horses and foal. There are men in the country 

 who will even recognise particular pigs when straying, 

 and the eye for identifying horses seems part of the 

 inheritance of most rustics. He unkindly interfered 

 with the walking tour, and rounded up the equine 

 members of it. The donkey, deprived of his friends, 

 then returned home ; but the mastiff accompanied 

 him in an entirely detached manner so far as its 

 original owners went, so great was this donkey's power 

 of making friends, and also of keeping them. 



As a rule, domestic animals which are much with 

 people prefer their company to that of other animals 

 of any kind. They think them more interesting and 

 distinguished. An " owl " pigeon, named " Pip," 

 because, like the hero of "Great Expectations," he 

 had been brought up by hand, always preferred human 

 society to that of his own kind. He lived in the 

 house whenever he could, though there were plenty 

 of pigeons outside ; and though he occasionally found 

 a mate and set up housekeeping for a time, his 

 domestic arrangements were seldom a success, because 

 he never allowed them to interfere with what he 

 conceived to be his social duties. So long as he was 

 only surrounded by other pigeons he would go 

 on with the nest-building or incubating in a quite 

 exemplary fashion, but immediately a human acquaint- 

 ance appeared he always stopped work and flew down 

 for a little conversation. 



The same bird became very friendly with a horse, 

 and used to sit on his back or between his ears for 

 hours at a time. This was the more curious, because 



