636 
remember some years ago keeping a ca- 
nary bird, which used frequently to sing 
in the night, (apprehend at some par- 
cular time of the year), and on men- 
fioning the subject to some of my ac- 
guaintance, they have given me the same 
information respecting birds which they 
have kept. QUESTOR. 
Yorkshire, May 14, 1810. 
=a 
Lo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
WISH to put on record in your pages, 
an anecdote lately communicated to 
me by a friend, which seems worthy of a 
place by the side of the great mass of 
facts now collected, evincing the exist- 
ence of gratitude in the brute creation. 
All your readers remember the story of 
Androcles and the Lion, in Sandford and 
Merton. That touching relation is pro- 
bably fabulous. What I am about to 
mention, if not so romantic, does not less 
strikingly prove that quadrupeds can have 
their hatred converted into affection by 
good offices; and is, besides, indisputably 
true... 
My friend, Mr. B. spent a month last 
year at the house of a farmer, who hada 
bull so wild and ferocious, that he was 
kept constantly chained, except when 
Jed to water, &c. at which time he was 
never suffered to be out of the hands of 
a-trusty person. This animal seemed to 
have conceived a particular antipathy to- 
wards Mr. B. who, being young and 
daring, had probably at some time irri- 
tated him. He never saw him approach 
the open shed in which he was kept with- 
out beginning to bellow most dreadfully, 
which he continued while the object of 
his dislike was in view, at the same time 
tearing up the earth with his horns, and 
giving every symptom of the utmost aver- 
sion. On two occasions while leading 
to water, he very cunningly watched an 
opportunity, and endeavoured to make a 
sudden spring out of the hands of his at- 
tendant at Mr. B. who was standing in 
the yard, © 
Some of your readers in the north of 
England, may probably recollect that in 
the night of the 10th of August, last year, 
there was a most tremendous storin of 
thunder and lightning. This took place 
_ during my friend’s sojourn in the country ; 
and though he has often been in tropical 
storms, he declares that for about ten 
minutes he never. witnessed any thing 
mére awful. The lightning resembled 
sheets of fire, and each flash was instantly 
succeeded by a thunder-clap as loud as. 
if a volley of ten thousand cannon _had 
Effects of Gratitude on a Wild Bull. 
[Oct. r 
beendischarged. But what most affected 
him were the piteous roarings of the poor 
bull, which, exposed in its open shed to. 
all the fury of the elements, sent forth 
every instant a yell of terror beyond de- 
scription hideous. Imagining that it was the 
lightning which chiefly alarmed the ani- 
mal, Mr. B. proposed to the men-ser- 
vants to go and remove it into the barn; 
but in vain. They were one praying in 
one corner and another in another, as 
much terrified as the bull, whose roarings 
made 10 impression on them. He then 
said, “‘ Well then, I will yo myself; the 
poor creature will be tame enough now.” 
He accordingly put on his great coat and 
went into the yard. The moment he 
approached the bull, which was lym 
trembling on its back, and had almost 
torn its chain through the gristle of its 
Nose in its efforts to get loose, it rose, 
and by its fawning actions expressed how 
delighted it was at the sight of any thing 
human’ amidst such a scene of horror. 
Like Roderick Dhu’s bull in the Lady of 
the Lake, when it had been pricked on 
some scores of miles by the lances of: 
a troop of Highland foragers, its fero- 
city was gune; and with the utmost 
quietness it suffered my friend to untie it 
and lead it isto the barn. : 
The next morning in crossing the farm 
yard, Mr. B. remarked that his old friend 
who had regained his shed, no longer sa= 
luted him with his accustomed bellow. 
It struck him that the animal might re- 
member his last night’s. kindness. He 
accordingly ventured by degrees to ap- 
proach it, and found that now so far from 
shewing any ill-will towards him, it with 
the utmost gentleness suffered him to 
scratch its head: and from that very day 
it became to him as tame asa lamb, suf- 
fering him to play all kinds of tricks with 
it, which no other person about the farm 
durst venture to attempt; and seeining 
even to take pleasure in being noticed by 
him. Baaieat : 
I do not remember to have read any 
more strikinginstance ofgratitude amongst 
brutes than this: certainly none in which 
the hatred was so markedly succeeded | 
by affection, and in which the cause of 
the sudden change was so distinctly cb- 
vious. Itis the more warthy of notice 
because we are not accustomed to regard 
bulls as very sagacious animals. They 
are doubitess much less so than the dag, 
horse, or elephant; yet this fact proves 
that they are at least equally susceptible 
of gratitude for favours, and have the fa- 
culty of memory in as strong a degree. 
August 13, 1810. ZOOPRILUS. 
