40 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



But a pang of regret stole into my heart and I felt as if parting with 

 a real friend. 



CAVIES, OR GUINEA PIGS.— In Figs. 30 and 31 we have excellent 

 representatives of the Cavies, or Guinea Pigs, in the Short-Haired 

 and Long-Haired respectively. Known to us in childhood by the 

 name of Guinea Pig, the humble Cavy, as it is now called, seems 

 to be very popular again. There are three important sections of 

 these interesting little animals, and these may be divided thus : 

 (i) those having long hair (Fig. 31) are known as Peruvians; 

 (2) those with short, smooth hair are styled Bolivian, English or 

 Smooth Cavies; (3) those with rough, short hair are called Abys- 

 sinians. 



Among the Peruvians one often finds delightful little animals 

 worthy of an artist's brush, the length and shading of their warm 

 coats making them particularly attractive; the Bolivian is more 

 abundant than either the Peruvian or the Abyssinian, and this for 

 two reasons, i. e. there is a greater variety of colour and they are 

 easier to produce and keep. The Rough-Haired, or Abyssinians, 

 have curious coats, the hair apparently lying the wrong way, with 

 tiny rosettes of hair which one writer states are "somewhat the size 

 and shape of a dandelion flower." 



FOSTER-PARENTS. — Instances of curious foster-parents are con- 

 tinually occurring, and two worth recording pictorially are shown 

 in Figs. 32 and 33. In the one an example is given of a Cat rearing 

 some young Squirrels — gay woodsprites about which I shall have 

 more to say later on — and in the other a Curly-Coated Retriever 

 bitch acting as foster-mother to some young Wolves. 



These strange friendships in the world of animal life are often 

 amusing and always interesting, and they certainly display a pleasing 

 trait in the character of a so-called dumb creature which is too little 

 recognized in an age which rushes along at such a pace that these 

 chivalrous deeds of the brute creation are very often overlooked. 



FERRET. — The last animal in our present section to which it is 

 proposed to direct attention is the Ferret. The specimen shown in 

 the photograph (Fig. 34) is pure white in colour, but this is not the 

 true natural colour, as, after a great deal of controversy among 

 zoologists, it is now generally recognized that this animal is 

 a domesticated variety of the handsome Polecat. The Ferret has, 

 through being made captive, suffered accordingly, until we find that, 

 generally speaking, it is inferior in size to the wild animal from 



