318 



OBSERVATIONS ON 



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 off- 

 spring. This circumstance corroborates my suspicion, that 

 the mention of exposed and deserted children being nur- 

 tured by female beasts of prey who had lost their young, 

 may not be so improbable an incident as many have sup- 



CAT. 



posed ; and therefore may be a justification of those authors 

 who have gravely mentioned what some have deemed to 

 be a wild and improbable 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 shows 

 her affection for these foundlings, 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 their own chickens. 



