Elephants were, of old, employed in India in the launching of ships. It is related of one, that, being directed to force a very large vessel into the water, the work proved superio...
An American gentleman was in pursuit of foxes, accompanied by two bloodhounds; the dogs were soon in scent, and pursued a fox nearly two hours, when suddenly they appeared at fault...
A constable once made a complaint before a bench of London magistrates against a horse for stealing hay. The complainant stated that the horse came regularly every night of its own...
A female bear, with two cubs, approached near a whaler, and was shot. The cubs not attempting to escape, were taken alive. These animals, though at first evidently very unhappy, be...
It is customary in large boarding-houses to announce the dinner-hour by the sound of a bell. A cat belonging to one of these houses always hastened to the hall on hearing the bell,...
A pair of crows once made their nest in a tree, of which there were several planted round the garden of a gentleman, who, in his morning walks, was often amused by witnessing furio...
A sow, which was a thin, long-legged animal (one of the ugliest of the New Forest breed), when very young conceived so great a partiality to some pointer puppies that a gamekeeper...
A pair of goldfinches who had the misfortune to be captured, together with their nest and six young ones, were placed in a double cage, with a pair of canaries, which had a brood o...
One of the magistrates in Harbour Grace, in Newfoundland, had an old dog of the regular web-footed species peculiar to that island, who was in the habit of carrying a lantern befor...
An elephant, from some motive of revenge, killed his cornack, or conductor. The man's wife, who beheld the dreadful scene, took her two children, and threw them at the feet of the...
A priest once brought up an ourang-outang, which became so fond of him that, wherever he went, it was always desirous of accompanying him. Whenever therefore he had to perform the...
A large colony of rooks had resided many years in a grove on the banks of a river. One serene evening the idle members amused themselves with chasing each other through endless maz...
A thief who had broken into the shop of Cellini, the Florentine artist, and was breaking open the caskets in order to come at some jewels, was arrested in his progress by a dog, ag...
In the reign of Augustus Caesar there was a dolphin in the Lucrine lake, which formed a most romantic attachment to a poor man's son. The boy had to go every day from Baiae to Pute...
Many years ago a gentleman had accidentally caught a sea-gull, whose wings he cut, and put it into his garden. The bird remained in that situation for several years, and being kind...
In a large north of England town a pair of strange rooks, after an unsuccessful attempt to effect a lodgment in a rookery at a little distance from the Exchange, were compelled to...
On an estate in Scotland a terrier had a litter of whelps, which were immediately taken from her and drowned. The unfortunate mother was quite disconsolate, until, a few weeks afte...
A gentleman travelling through Mecklenburg was witness to the following curious circumstance in an inn at which he was staying. After dinner, the landlord placed on the floor a lar...
Some years ago a sparrow had early in spring taken possession of an old swallow's nest, and had laid some eggs in it, when the original builder and owner of the castle made her app...
A French dog was taught by his master to execute various commissions, and among others, to fetch him victuals from a restaurant in a basket. One evening when the dog was returning...
A wren built her nest in a box, so situated that a family had an opportunity of observing the mother bird instructing the young ones in the art of singing peculiar to the species....
Some years ago, a soldier doing duty at the castle of Cape Town, kept a tame baboon for his amusement. One evening it broke its chains unknown to him. In the night, climbing up int...
A young pointer, out with his master hunting, ran on a brood of very small partridges. The old bird cried, fluttered, and ran trembling along just before the dog's nose, till she h...
A squirrel, whose bad luck it was to be captured, was lodged for safe custody in a trap used for taking rats alive. Here he remained for several weeks, till at length, panting for...
A French officer, more remarkable for his birth and spirit than his wealth, had served the Venetian republic for some years with great valour and fidelity, but had not met with tha...
During the government of Prince Maurice in Brazil, he had heard of an old parrot that was much celebrated for answering like a rational creature many of the common questions put to...
A mastiff dog, who owed more to the bounty of a neighbour than to his master, was once locked by mistake in the well-stored pantry of his benefactor for a whole day, where milk, bu...
A gentleman tells how, during the time of his residence at Podor, a French factory on the banks of the river Niger, there were two ostriches, though young, of gigantic size, which...
A female elephant belonging to a gentleman at Calcutta broke loose from her keeper, and was lost in the woods. The excuses which the keeper made were not admitted. It was supposed...
A gentleman once succeeded in taming a seal. It appeared to possess all the sagacity of the dog, lived in its master's house, and ate from his hand. He usually took it with him in...