176 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE,

branches of the Elbe, became entirely covered with water,
to the great alarm of the horses, which, with some foals, had
been grazing on it. They set up a loud neighing, and col-
lected themselves together within a small space. To save
the foals that were now standing up to their bellies in water
seemed to be the object of their consultation. They adopted
a method at once ingenious and effective. Each foal was
arranged between horses, who pressed their sides together so
as to keep them wedged up, and entirely free from injury
from the water. They retained this position for six hours,
nor did they relinquish their burden till the tide having ebbed
and the water subsided, the foals were placed out of danger.”

Horse Play. Horse-play is a term which conveys the idea
of rough if not brutal romping, and yet the horse can be
gentle in its friendships and considerate in its dealings with
weaker animals, and with children to a remarkable degree.
White in his “Natural History of Selborne”, tells of a curious
friendship between a horse and a hen. “These two incon-
gruous animals spent much of their time together in a lonely
orchard, where they saw no creature but each other. By
degrees an apparent regard began to take place between the
two sequestered individuals; the fowl would approach the
horse with notes of complacency, rubbing herself quietly
against his legs, while the horse would look down with satis-
faction, and move with the greatest caution and circumspec-
tion, lest he should trample on his diminutive companion.”
A similar friendship is recorded as between a horse and a
sheep, whom circumstances threw much in company. Both
gregarious animals and both failing of companionships of their
own kind, they found solace in their loneliness in a beautiful
if curious friendship. The gentleness of horses in dealing
with children has often been remarked, even when within the
confined limits of a stable they will use the utmost circumspec-
tion as to movements lest they should inadvertently tread upon
their playfellows. Mr. Morris tells of a plough horse who