Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-10-30
FRIENDLY ANIMALS.
ODD FRIENDSHIPS THAT DUMB
CREATURES CONTRACT.

Horses AMI Dogs Frequently Become In.
innate - Queer Taste That CANNES
Display In Choosing Companions.
Some Remarkable Cases.
The particular friendships occasion
ally formed 10y animals among them
selves are characterized by the virtues
and failings incident to human attach
ments. We are frequently reminded OF
mans selfshness and Inconsistency in the
| ways of the brute creation, nor Is ii
| peculiar to animals that they sometimes
enter into alliances of curious kind.
Naturally enough, horses often make
friends and comrades among their own
race, as dogs do still oftener, but close
friendship and understanding between
horses and dogs is apparently more fire.
| quent than any similar relationship
between the individuals of the same
species. Perhaps the most remarkable
attachments are those shown by animals
thrown together by enforced circum-
stances and separated from others Of
their kind.
Horses have positive dread of soil
tude, and when this happens to be I'M
avoidable will make friends of the most
unlikely creatures. The hours which
carefully tended favorite passes in his
box are often relieved by the companion
ship of the stable cat, which the nobler
quadruped speedily adopts as its own,
and TO which it often becomes genuinely
attached. The absence of the cat is at
once remarked by the horse, who mani
tests impotence and plainly asks for the
restoration of its favorite.
One OF the runners in the Derby, a
colt named Galeopsis, had for some
time before the race shown symptoms
of distress and uneasiness, amounting to
positive melancholy, and not attribute
BILE TO any physical cause. A goat and
kid were procured and judiciously in
troduced to the stable, the result being
thus described by an eyewitness: GA
leopsis seemed TO take much interest in
them until the goat died. but the kid re-
mains, and the horse now vastly diverts
himself by lifting the little creature up
by the back Of its neck with its teeth,
putting it down in the manger, careful
ly placing it on the ground again after
awhile, and then repeating the opera
ton"
There is an interesting record Of the
strange dislike entertained by a pony
for particular horse with which it was
brought into daily contact, and the ex-
traordinary friendship formed by it for
a calf in the same meadow. The pony
and calf became inseparable, show
ing their mutual regard in many divert
ing ways, greatly to the annoyance Of
the calls mother, who not unnaturally
evinced the utmost jealousy and resent
ment. Gilbert White relates how a
horse and hen, spending much Of their
time together in q lonely orchard, also
became the fastest of friends: 1.-THE
fowl would approach the horse with
notes of complacency, rubbing herself
gently against his legs, while the horse
would look down with satisfaction, and
move with the greatest caution and cir
|, cumspection lest he should trample on
his diminutive companion"
Dogs have so much larger a share OF
, personal liberty than horses or cattle
that their friendships obviously lie more
at their own disposal. But notwith
standing this fact they constantly make
friends Of the most unlikely birds
and for the most inexplicable reasons
! No doubt some temporary alliances are
! formed for the attainment of a particu
lar object, not always of a creditablt
| kind Attachments between members
] of the same race are of course common
but attract the less notice on account OF
: their obvious reasonableness. Dogs
however, are greatly addicted to queel
company, and constantly go out of theil
way in quest of it. The numerous
: friendships formed between dogs and
! geese, and even poultry in general are
quite remarkable. 1t is not generally
recognized that the goose is bird of ex
traordinary sagacity-it has even beer
described as of great intellectual capaci
| ty-and this mutual regard Of fur and
feather may proceed on an understand
ing that overrides the distinctions Of race
s The species of goose known as th'
"gray lag" is especially remarkable fol
its strong and frequent attachments Il
the dog. One that was rescued by {
- mastiff from the insidious attack Of {
fox showed a consciousness Of its obliga
tons and desire to return them tina
! were touching in their obvious feeling
h The goose entirely abandoned the soci
: iety of its kind, roasted in the dogs ken
" mel and followed it in its daily wander
y ings over large farm and through tn
neighboring village. The dog happen
g ing to fall i'll the goose would not leav
him night or day, and would to all az
Il pearance have been starved had not
e pan of corn been placed for it every da.
near the kennel.
The French naturalist Houzeau ais
relates how a Chinese goose made friend
r. with dog at first sight, uttering threat
Il of vengeance against any person or an