STRANGE PETS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 480, 14 June 1890, Page 3

STRANGE PETS.

The Merry Little Mongoose and the Quarrelsome Russian Bear. Describing in the Saturday * Review ’ some outlandisii pets, the writer says: The mongoose is not pretty enough to be a pet in countries where his habits of life give him no extraneous charm. An Anglo-In-dian lady who cherishes her ‘goose’ does not distinguish his personal fascination from his personal utility. We do not feel so sure as we should widh that ho hunts cobras, but everyone gives him credit for that virtue, and undoubtedly he kills rats. There is no question, of course, that the mongoose will attack a snake; he will attack anything that moves swiftly along tho ground. The fury of our dear lost Jingo when a ball was trundled in his sight, and some one held him, approached dementia. He also ended his days in the Zoo ‘on deposit.’ The mongoose is certainly one of the drollest of animals,and we are not aware that he has any fault except mischief of the personal class—that is, he tears nothing, and does not very often carry things to his den. But for Humorous Surprises he has unequalled ingenuity. Owing to the arrangement of our room, callers generally sat upon a couch draped to the floor. If a strange lady entered, Bingo slipped out of sight—not for nervousness or timidity; he was unacquainted with those feelings. Then he crept up the hanging stuff, with never a rustle, and when the lady was most, interested in the exposition of her business, he stretched his long body and introduced A Very Cold, Sharp Nose between her hair and her collar —with results which we need not detail. That this was pure, conscious fun, no one familiar witli Jingo could doubt. It would have been less effective had he been prettier, but less objectionable also. Those who like this sorb of thing, and see no drawback in little red eyes, ungraceful form, and nondescript colour, should get a mongoose. We have known some Engaging Bears—not the awful Russian bear, but those little black fellows called ‘ Honey ’ or ‘ Malayan.’ A Russian bear is monstrously droll during the first few months of its existence, but it begins to quarrel and fight as soon as it can see, unless kept by itself. There is a very well-known restaurant hehind tho Hotel d’Angleterre, in St. Petersburg, where hams and steaks, and paws—perhaps of bear — can always be found in the season, and young ones aro on sale. We nearly bought a most amusing little specimen once, but on demand the Tartar produced, very unwillingly, its brother and sister. The three flew to battle at sight, and before they could be separated One Lost an Eye. Honey bears have no such vicious disposition, and one finds them domesticated sometimes in tho farther oast. They are always bearish, however, which is nob wholly surprising—apt to give serious wounds in pure innocence of heart and high spirits. Within our experience a trusted favourite bib away the whole crown of a pith helmet on its master’s head with one joyous gulp—his skull would have fared much the same if unprotected. Of the innumerable squirrels up and down the world we have Never Seen One Tamed; though they are beautiful, from the black and white fellow, not bigger than a mouse, of Central America, to the giant of Borneo, with a bright red stripe down its side. One would think that Tommy Atkins must have tried his hand upon those pretty little features that dwell by the score in every tree of Bengal almost round Allahabad, for example. Doubtless, the monkey tribe furnishes the very best of pets, the roost graceful and amusing ; but of these species none will live in our climate of draughts and moisture, unless under conditions fatal to the enjoyment of their charming ways. Dearest of all animals, to our mind, is the * Wa-Wa ’ ape of the Far East. Whether ic curl with both arms round one’s neck, softly cooing, or swing for many minutes on the arm of one’s choir, or suddenly fly, like a bird, to and fro, noiseless and careful as a cat, it is always delightful. Bub such pets a re not for those who stay at home.