Serpents are said to oliey the
their master. The trumpeter
voice
bird
America follows its owner like a spaniel,
aii-l the jacana acts as a guard to poultry,
protecting them in the field all day from
birds of prey and eeorting them home at
night- In the Shetland lakes there is a
pill which defends the fiock from eagles;
it is therefore regarded as a privileged bird.
The chamois, bounding over the mountain,
are indebted for their safety in no small de
gree to a species of pheasan's ; the bird acts
as the sentinel, for, as soon as it gets sight
of a man, it whistles, upon hearing which
the chamois, knowing the hunters to he
near, sets off at full speed. The artifices
which partridges and plovers employ to de
lude their enemies from the nest of their
young may lie referred to as a case in point,
as well as the adroit contrivance of the hind
for the preservation of her young, for when
she hears the sound of dogs she puts herself
in the way of the hunter, and starts in a
direction to draw them away from her
fawns. Instance of the effect upon animals
are no less remarkable, A writer says:
"I know a dog that died of Borrow at the
loss of his masttr, and a bullfinch that
abstained from singiug ten entire months on
account of the absence of its mistress ; on
her return it immediaiely resumed its
song." Lord Kaimes relates an instance of
a canary, which, while singing to a mate,
hatching her eggs in cage, fell dead ; the
female left the nest, and finding him dead,
rejected all food, and died by Lis side.
SCIENTIFIC.
