Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-09-14
ALEXANDRIA,:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER IA, 1918.
ACCOUNT OF PIG THAT LEARNED TO DO
THE OFFICE OF POINTER.

by no means deficient III SaSaCRy Jul the
short lives we allow them, and the general
confinement they undergo, prevent their
improvement in that respect. Learned pigs
have been often heard Of, and frequently
exhibited in England and its sister king
doms, and we know, (says Mr.. Bingley)
.hat Toomer, formerly the game-keeper'oi
SirH, P. st. John Mildmay, actually broke
in black SOW to find game, TO back and 10
stand, nearly as well as a pointer.
This sow, which was thin, long-legged
ugly animal, when very young, took agfeat
partially to some pointer puppies that
Toomer, then under keeper OF broomy
lodge, IN the new forest, was breaklns-t
PLAYED and often came to feed with them.
From This circumstance il occurred to
Toomer, Ito use his own expresslon) that
having broke many dog as obstinate as a
Dig, he would try il be could not succeed in
| breaking a pig itself also. The little ami
NAL would often go out with the puppies TO
some distance from home and he enliced
it further by sort of pudding madeof bar
ley meal, which he carried in one of his
pockets: the other he filled with stones,
which he threw at the pig whenever she
misbehaved, as he was not able TO catch
and correct her in the same manner that he
did the dogs He informed sir II. Mild
may (who furnished Mr.. Bingley with the
account) that he fo1nd the animal very
.ractable, and that he soon taught her what
he wished, by this mode of reward and
punishment. Sir Henry said that he fire.
quenily saw her out with Tooner, when
she quar'ered her ground as regularly as
any pointer, stood when she came on game,
(haviGg an excellent nose) and backed the
dogs rs well as he ever saw pointer do
When she came on the cold scent of game,
she slackened her trot. and gradually dropt
her ears and tail, till she was certain. and
then fell down on her knees. So staunch
was she, that she would frequently remain
five minutes and upwards at her point. As
soon as The game rose, she always returned
to Toomer, grunting very loudly for her
reward Of pudding, if it was not immedi.
ately given to her. Toomer died, and his
widow sent the pig to sir Henry Mldmay,
who kept il for three years, but neverused it
except for the purpose of occasionally anu
sing his friends. In doing this, fowl was
put into cabbage net, and hidden amongst
the fern in some part Of the park and the
extraordinary animal never failed to point
it, in the manner before described. Sir
Henry was at length obliged to part with
this sow from a circumstance as singular as
the other occurrences of her life. A great
number Of lambs had been lost, nearlv as
soon as they were dropped; and person
being sent 10 watch the flock, the animal
was detected in the very act Of devouring
lamb. This carnivorous propensity was
ascribed to her having been accustomed to
feed with the dogs, and to cal the flesh upon
which they were fed. Sir Henry sent her
back to Mrs. Toomer, who sold her to Mr..
Sykes, of Brookwood, in the new forest
where she died the usual death OF pig,
and was converted into bacon.
From the same gentleman we have an
account Of the trhite mouse, which though
he mentions it as occurring very rarely in
England, is constantly on sale in London,
and is capable of being made very tame
We remember, (say they from whom we
have taken the story to have seen one Of
the kind bought when young, which was &C
customed TO run about large table but
would not venture to jump down from such
height, though she often peered over the
edge. She would feed from the hand, drink
little drops Of cream, or lick the edge of a
tea spoon with great pleasure. She had Sc
veral broods; apd after the young were Sc
parated from her, she would enter their
sleeping places and arrange their beds
She became at last swollen and heavy; her
eye-sight failed her; and she died, appa-
rently according to the course of nature,
when about two years old.
Whether foxes fed on grapes, has been
made question Of difficulty among sports
men critics. But Mr. Bingly informs US,
that beside the grapes, the wal-fruit in the
marquis of Buckingham's gardens at Slow,
was one summer nearly all destroyed by a
fox, which was at length caught in the gar
den in the presence Of the marquis.