Bees have fine feelings, and are apt to take offence when dogs bark or act
unmannerly. We state this fact on the veritable authority of the Caledonian Mercury. "At Flodden brick-works, a few weeks ago, a large dog of the
Newfoundland-breed, was stung to death by bees. He had been placed at
the outside of the garden, in which were several hives of the industrious tribe ; by his bark, and'the manner in which he acted towards those bees that came within his reach, he soon gave offence to the winged insects, who, to revrnge the insult, fastened upon him in whole swarms, and stung him to death."
Dogs form alliances like kings, make long marches, invade and slaughter their enemies. The following has appeared in several newspapers, but we cannot tell which had it first :—"A short time back, a gentleman residing in the upper part of Carnarvonshire received an invitation free, a gentleman residing in Middlewich, to spend a month with him. The gentleman ac cepted the invitation, and took with him a favourite greyhound : the next
day after their arrival, a mastiff belonging to the inviter attacked the greyhound, and gave him a good drubbing. The greyhound immediately took to
his heels, and fled home to Carnarvonshire, a distance of about ninety miles ; and the family were surprised to see the dog return without his master. Next morning, the greyhound and a remarkably strong bull and mastiff dog, be longing to the same gentleman, disappeared, and no trace could be found of either of them until a few days afterwards, when a letter was received [not from the dogs, but] from the Welch gentleman, saying his bull-dog and greyhound had arrived in Cheshire, and both had attacked the mastiff belonging to his friend, and bad destroyed him before they could be separated." The other day, a young soldier belonging to the 78th Highlanders, quartered in Stirling Castle, leaped, in a frolic, from a point called the "Ladies' look-out" to the ground, a height of fifty feet, and returned to the Castle unhurt. Before he took the leap, he obsessed to a companion that it was "nae jump at a'." •
Cats, it seems, have a taste for pilfering watches, and a malicious pleasure in spoiling them. The Hull Advertiser says—" A few days ago, a professional gentleman of this town, we understand, left a valuable gold watch upon his desk, which was soon after seen in possession of a cat, who was hurrying down stairs with it in her mouth, with as much haste and anxiety as if it had been prey of a different description. On being examined, the works were found much injured ; and the watchmakers stated it was the third instance, within their knowledge, in which watches had been damaged in a similar way."
A New York paper lately mentioned a more marvellous exploit. A man leaped down the Passaic falls, a height of eighty Or ninety feet, without injury. The writer of the paragraph sagaciously observes that he went down " feet foremost."
A gardener of Craigforth, Lanarkshire, last year succeeded in rearing and domesticating a covey of partridges, the process of incubation being performed by a common hen. They became so tame, that they ran about and fed like poultry, after they were deserted by their foster-mother. This season the gardener has five birds, reared in the same manner, so perfectly tame that they will pick food from the hand of a stranger.
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