THE HEN AND THE KITTEN'S.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1076, 8 December 1882, Page 4

THE HEN AND THE KITTEN'S.

A correspondent at CaurpVlltown sent the Scotsman the following interesting.aCcoi'rnt of Che effoctionato attentions of the hen for a brood of kit-t(rna:-“Tn a loft, Tavinloan lain, Kiirtyre, whore bens are kept, shout five weeks ago a cat gave birth to five kittens in one of the nests, while in another nest sat an ordinary Barndoor hen chicking, but not on eggs. A day or two after the kittens were born the hen removed from the nest in which she was, and took possession of them ; but the cat, not approvidy of her services, removed the kittens from the loft to a small enclosure in another house—evidently thinking in this way to get rid of the hen’s attentions. The hen, however, not:to be so done, soon found out the place to which her adopted family had been carried, and took to nursing them as before. On this an understanding was come to between the real and the foster mother ; the hen finding that the kittens would not thrive without suck from the cat, allowed her to come at intervals and nurse them until satisfied, and the cat finding that she conld not d ive the hen away, and that she was a most anxious and loving dry nurse, yielded to necessity with a good grace. The ken'has-never left tire kittens, but devotes to them her whole time, and has always trusted to food being brought to her.. She takes them, under her wings, clucks to 'them, and works about them with her bill, and now, when they are beginning to move about, she permits them to climb on her and amuse themselves, as kittens will, with her head, tail, or other part. On the other hand, the kit'ens return to the hen with the greatest fondness, and seem only to regard their real mother as nothing more than a creature to supply them with food. The singular event is regarded by some of the villagers as something very ‘uncanny,’ and they are anxious to have cat, kittens, and hen destroyed, but Mr Barclay has resisted the absurd demand,”