s Mrs. Zebra, and she means it too, for if anybody took
the trouble to go all the way to the hot country of Africa, where Mrs.
Zebra is at home, and tried to carry off her baby, they would find their
journey a vain one, and that she would kick severely, and perhaps break
the legs of the person bold enough to take away her darling.

[Illustration]

MRS. BRUIN AND FAMILY.

This is the American black bear, who is looking so lively and seemingly
inviting the young folks to have a romp, which they will be only too
willing to join in. The black bear is of a timid disposition, and seldom
attacks man except in self-defense. The female bear is a most
affectionate mother, and many stories are related showing her care and
love for her young, and her sorrow and mournful cries when any evil
befalls them. On one occasion a black bear with her two cubs was pursued
across the ice by some armed sailors. At first she urged her cubs to
increased speed, but finding her pursuers gaining upon them, she
carried, pushed, and pitched them, alternately, forward, until she
effected their escape from her pursuers.

[Illustration]

LITTLE OWLS.

Who has not at one time or other of his life read fairy tales and
sympathized with stories of enchanted princes and princesses? I once
thought of this when a country boy offered me a nest with four of the
young of the Little Owl. I put them into a large cage, where they could
stare at each other and at my pigeons to their hearts' content.

Let me say that this little owl is a very useful bird, for it keeps
mice, bats, beetles, and other creatures in check, which might otherwise
multiply too fast. On a spring or summer evening you may hear its
plaintive hoot among the apple-blossoms of an orchard, or the sheaves of
a cornfield. Curiously enough, this simple sound earned the little bird
the name of being the harbinger of death, and peasants believed that
whenever its cry was heard where sickness was in the family, the patient
was sure to die.

[Illustration]

AUROCHS.

An Aurochs in blind rage, charging through thick and thin, has had a
fascination for me as long as I can remember. The true aurochs and this,
the European Bison, ceased to exist in the British Isles, except in the
Zoological Gardens; but the latter is still found wild in Lithuania, and
is also carefully preserved in other parts of Russia, of which the
Emperor has a herd. There is much talk about their being