A Strange Foster Mother.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2861, 31 March 1888, Page 3

A Strange Foster Mother.

Stories of cats rearing broods of young raise are not uncommon, but are generally regarded as more or less apocryphal, inasmuch as the natural instinct of a cat does not lead it to cherish mice, whether your.g or old. Authentic instances have, certainly, been recorded of cuts whose kittens have been disposed of by the ordinary method of drowning, adopting litters of mice or rats in the place of their defunct offspring, i case has occurred in Ohristchurch, says the Lyttelton Times, more curious than any of these, a cat having taken charge of a family of young mice without any such reason being apparent, The cat in question is kept at (ho office of Messrs Partridge and Buddie, and has always been regarded as a" mouser" of exceptional ferocity. A day or two ago, however, her owners were astonished to find hor suckling a family of young mice, eleven in number, which she had brought into a box whore she usually slept, and which she was tending with the most tender solicitude. She is still engaged in this work of clnrity, and her adopted children appear to be perfectly contented and comfortable- with their fostermother.