332 NATURAL HISTORY READER, 



and curled herself up contentedly. When Mr. Huntington 

 visited the pair next morning, there was puss close to Nar- 

 ragansett's feet, with a family of five beside her. The 

 horse evidently knew all about it, and that it behooved 

 him to take heed how he moved his feet. Puss afterward 

 would go out, leaving her little ones to the care of her 

 friend, who would every now and then look to see how 

 they were getting on. When these inspections took place 

 in the mother's presence, she was not at all uneasy, al- 

 though she showed the greatest fear and anxiety if any 

 children or strangers intruded upon her privacy. 



4. A gentleman in Sussex had a cat which showed the 

 greatest affection for a young blackbird, which was given 

 to her by a stable-boy for food a day or two after she had 

 been deprived of her kittens. She tended it with the 

 greatest care ; they became inseparable companions, and 

 no mother could show a greater fondness for her offspring 

 than she did for the bird. 



5. A pair of carriage-horses taken to water at a stone 

 trough, then standing at one end of the Manchester Ex- 

 change, were followed by a dog who was in the habit of 

 lying in the stall of one of them. As he gamboled on in 

 front, the creature was suddenly attacked by a mastiff far 

 too strong for his power of resistance, and it would have 

 gone hard with him but for the unlooked-for intervention 

 of his stable-companion, which, breaking loose from the 

 man who was leading it, made for the battling dogs, and 

 with one well-delivered kick sent the mastiff into a cooper's 

 cellar, and then epiietly returned to the trough and finished 

 his drink. 



6. In very sensible fashion, too, did Mrs. Bland's half- 

 Danish dog Traveler show his affection for his mistress's 

 pet pony. The latter had been badly hurt, and, when well 

 enough to be turned into a field, was visited there by its 

 fair owner and regaled with carrots and other delicacies ; 



