he wheel by
biting it, was crushed to pieces.

[Illustration: Faithful unto Death.--Page 112]

[Illustration]

LVII

MUSICAL SEALS

Seals have a very delicate sense of hearing, and are much delighted with
music. A gentleman, in his account of a voyage to Spitzenbergen, tells
us that the son of the ship's captain who was very fond of playing on
the violin, never failed to have a large audience when in the seas
frequented by these animals; and he has seen them follow the ship for
miles when any person was playing on deck.

LVIII

A STRANGE FOSTER MOTHER

On an estate in Scotland a terrier had a litter of pups, which were at
once taken away from her and drowned. The unfortunate mother was very
unhappy, until, a few weeks later, she saw a brood of ducklings, which
she seized and carried to her house, where she kept them, following them
in and out with the greatest care, and nursing them after her own
fashion, with the most affectionate anxiety. When the ducklings,
following their natural instinct, went into the water, their
foster-mother was terribly alarmed; and as soon as they came back to
land, she quickly snatched them up in her mouth, and ran home with them.
What is still more strange is, that the same animal, when her litter of
pups were taken away the year before, seized two chicks, which she
brought up with the same care she now bestowed upon the ducks. When the
young cocks began to try their voices, their foster-mother was as much
annoyed as she now was by the swimming of the duckings--and never failed
to repress their attempts at crowing.

[Illustration]

LIX

SONNINI AND HIS CAT

M. Sonnini, when in Egypt, had an Angora cat, of which he was extremely
fond. It was entirely covered with long white silken hairs, and its tail
formed a magnificent plume, which the animal elevated at pleasure over
its body. Not one spot, not a single dark shade marred the dazzling
whiteness of its coat. Its nose and lips were of a delicate rose color.
Two large eyes sparkled in its round head; one was of yellow and the
other of fine blue.

This beautiful animal had even more beauty of manners than grace in
attitude and movements. However ill any one used her, she never tried to
put out her claws from their sheaths. Sensible to kindness, she licked
the hand which caressed, and even the one which tormented her. In
Sonnini's solitary moments, she kept the most of the time close by his
side. She