OTHER FOUR-FOOTED PETS
Looking around us for our household pets after the dog and the cat, we find that Bunny, the rabbit, comes next. Bunny is a darling pet of the little ones, who dearly love to fondle this pretty bundle of fur. They are sometimes too kind and the poor little thing suffers from their fondness. That is the sad way with children's pets, they are at times loved to death.
But the rabbit is kept for something else than a child's plaything. It is often raised for food, much like the hen and the duck, and its furry skin brings a good price. Thus the Angora rabbit, the most beautiful of them all, has splendid snow-white fur four inches and more in length, which is made into many things useful to wear. Stockings, gloves, shawls, and even stuffs for clothing are made of it. Under-garments made of the Angora fur are said to be very good for gouty persons.
The pretty little Angora is so often kept as a pet by the ladies of France and some other countries that it is called "the ladies' rabbit." It is not always full white, for the Russian Angoras have jet-black noses, ears, legs and tails, which make them look very comical.
You would be surprised if you could see all the kinds of rabbits brought together, for there are many more of them than you would think. A splendid one is the little Silver rabbit, whose skin is used by the fur-makers and brings a big price. Some of them are silver-brown and others silver-yellow in color, but these are not common.
The Dutch rabbit is the smallest of all the bunnies, and when the colors are good it is very pretty. It may be black, yellow, steel-blue, and of other colors, these hues being oddly combined. Other rabbits of small size are the Polish and the French papillon (or butterfly). The one called the Polish is really an English rabbit, and little folks are very fond of it, with its red eyes twinkling out of its snow-white fur. This fur is of high value. The papillon is white, with black, yellow, gray, or blue spots, and is quite pretty.
Then there is the Japan rabbit, also called the tricolor or tortoise-shell. It has black, yellow and whitish markings and rings round its body, while its head is often half yellow and half black.
You can see from what has been said that color has much to do with the difference in rabbits. The ears form another point. They are generally long and stand straight up, giving the rabbit a wide-awake look, but there is a lop-eared rabbit with ears so long and heavy that they hang down on each side and nearly touch the ground.
The king of all the rabbits in size is the Giant rabbit of Flanders. Two others known as giants are the Blue Giant of Vienna and the Blue Giant of Beveren (Flanders). The flesh of these Blue Giants is very good and their fur brings a high price. That of the Blue Giant of Beveren is very thick and close and is of great value. This animal weighs from seven to ten pounds.
We are familiar in this country with the Belgian hare. It is not a hare at all, though it looks like one, but is really a rabbit, and is a fine strong species, weighing six or seven pounds and excellent for the table. It is a little wild, but soon grows gentle with those who care for it. It used to be sent in great numbers to the United States.
You may see from what has been said that there are many varieties of the rabbit. Of those used for food much the best is the Norman rabbit, which weighs nine or ten pounds and is sold in the markets in Paris and other cities of France. The black-and-tan is one of the most beautiful of the rabbits, from its splendid color, but it is very shy and hard to tame. The last we need speak of is the Havana rabbit, of brown or chocolate color, now much raised in Holland.
When the rabbit is taken good care of it is very healthy and those who raise it for the market for its fur find it of much value, since it increases in numbers very rapidly. Many of the young die, it is true, but enough live to keep up a large family.
Rabbits near Their Burrow. The Young at Play, the Mother Alert for Danger
A good rabbit home may be made of a number of boxes of about the same size, raised four or five inches above the ground and facing the sun if they are kept in the open air. Casks or barrels may also be used, with a door at one end of the barrel, covered with netting to keep out rats and mice.
It is amusing to see the care with which the mother rabbit makes her nest when she is about to have young. Some soft straw and hay is put in the box or cask and this she carries into one corner of her home, makes a hollow in it, and lines this with fur pulled from her breast, to make a warm, soft nest for the little brood. When the young are born she must be given something juicy, such as a turnip or carrot, or perhaps a little warm milk or water, for if left thirsty she grows feverish and is apt to eat the little ones, not knowing what she is doing. She cannot bear thirst and it makes her do strange things. There may be new broods of young five or six times a year, and if only three or four of each brood live there will be a good many by the year's end.
There are many other animals which are at times kept as pets by man, though the dog, cat, and rabbit are the most common. The Ferret is often kept, though not as a pet. It is a half wild little brute, hard to tame and used for hunting, for some kinds of which it is very useful. It is a sort of white weasel, long and slender, so that it can make its way through rat holes or rabbit burrows. A brave little thing, it is not afraid to attack the largest rat, and is good at clearing a house of rats and mice. It is also used to drive rabbits from their burrows. Nets are set to catch the prey or they are shot as they rush out. But a muzzle is put on the ferret, for if it can kill the rabbit and drink its blood it may stay for days in the hole. At other times a long string is tied to it, so that it can be pulled out. The ferret is sometimes used to chase and catch fowls. Once caught, a single sharp bite on the neck puts an end to the life of the fowl.
The Otter, One of Nature's Fishers
The ferret is a blood-sucker, and this makes it dangerous when it has once tasted blood. It has been known to attack a child in its cradle when the mother was away, and will bite its master if not given enough food or ill-treated in any way. It is an ugly tempered little brute, usually unfit for petting. But Mr. Romanes tells of one kept by him that was fond of being petted and would follow him like a dog when he walked out. It was also taught tricks, such as begging for food and leaping over sticks, and those it never seemed to forget.
The Guinea-pig, which is often kept as a home animal, has none of the fierce ways of the ferret. In spite of its name, it has nothing to do with the real pig, but is one of the gnawing animals, a timid and stupid creature, that first came from South America. Large numbers of them are found on the banks of the La Plata River, being there known as the Cavy. They burrow in the ground and feed on fruits and herbs.
A Guinea-Pig. Pig Only by Name, not by Nature
What people like in the Guinea-pig is its pretty coloring. The wild form is of a grayish-brown color, but as kept on the farm its color is white, with patches of red and black. It is of no use to man except as a pet, for it is not fit for food and is too stupid for anything else. It has been said to drive off rats and mice, but this is a false notion.
What can we say of the Hedgehog as a pet? Not much, though it is often kept. It is no more a hog than the Cavy is a pig, but is not one of the gnawing animals, for it lives chiefly on mice, game, birds, frogs, insects and worms. This makes it very useful in a garden or in a house in which roaches are a pest. The odd thing about the hedgehog is its armor of sharp spines. When attacked by a dog or other animal it at once rolls itself up into a ball with the spines pointing out in all directions like those of the porcupine. Thus the little creature is quite able to take care of itself. The dog may roll it about with his foot but is afraid to bite into its spines.
The Weasel has also been tamed and been found a lovable little animal. The Otter is another tamable creature and can be taught to catch fish and bring them to its master. Dr. Goldsmith tells us of one that would go to the fish pond when told to do so, drive the fish into a corner, seize the largest and carry it in its mouth to its master.
There are many other animals that have at times been kept as pets, among them such a queer one as the Kangaroo, with its very long hind legs and very short fore-legs and its habit of jumping instead of walking. A pet kangaroo of which we are told was a very man-like or monkey-like creature in its way of eating, using its fore-paws like hands to take food from its dish. What it most enjoyed was a rabbit-bone, which it would take in its right paw and pick clean, eating it with great relish.
It was very fond of tea, but liked to have it well sweetened. If the milk was left out it would lash its tail, draw up its tall figure angrily and bound away with a long leap. Kanny had a very sweet tooth and liked sugared almonds best of all titbits.
Other odd pets we have heard of were a couple of Prairie dogs, brought from Texas to Scotland and kept in a village garden. They proved very friendly but needed to be locked up in a strong box at night, for they would gnaw into shreds the mats and rugs and everything open to their sharp teeth. But they were loving little things and had a way of showing affection by a gentle pressure of their teeth on the hands of their friends. If a stranger touched them in a timid way he was apt to get a pinch but if a firm hold was taken they seemed to like it.
These are only a few of the animals that have been kept as pets. Cardinal Wolsey made a friend of an old carp, Cowper, the poet, loved to play with his hares, and Lord Clive, the soldier, kept a pet tortoise. Others of less note have made pets of snakes, frogs, lizards, and various other animals. We have not tried to name them all and have said nothing about so common a pet as the monkey, for we must keep this funny fellow for a chapter of his own.
II
OUR SINGLE-HOOFED HELPERS
Is there anywhere, has there ever been, a finer or more useful animal than the horse, the swift racer of the plains, the noble lord of the desert, the mainstay of the city and farm? To us the horse is as familiar a friend as the dog. We see this fine animal everywhere that man lives, now valued for his speed, when he flies away over the racing field "with the wings of the wind;" now admired for his beauty and stately form, when he draws the coaches of kings and nobles; now for his great size, as the huge draught animal; now for his small size, as the dainty little pony. It is sad to say also that we often see him as the old, worn-out drudge of the streets, hard-worked, half-fed, and slowly dying in harness.
Go back as far as we can in history it is the same story still. The horse is man's friend and helper, carrying him in the battle-field, working for him on the farm, bearing him in his travels. But if we go back beyond history we come to a time when the horse was free and wild. It was not yet tamed by man, but was hunted and killed for food. In the caves that were the homes of early man great numbers of horses' bones are found, left from the feasts of old-time savage men.
Friends and Comrades
The wild horse has not gone from the earth. Troops of them still live on the vast plains of northern Asia, and they are found also in the forests of the south of Russia, small, wiry animals, full of life and spirit. These are called Tarpans. Centuries ago wild horses were to be found in Spain and parts of Germany, but these have all been caught and made to work for their living. America has its wild horses also, plenty of them in South America, but they are not natives of the soil. Some of the horses brought over from Spain by the early settlers escaped from their masters and became free and wild in the great grassy plains. These are known as "mustangs" or "cimmarones," and no use is made of them except by the Indians, who kill and eat some of them and tame others.