PETS OF THE GUARDS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 82, 31 December 1926, Page 25

PETS OF THE GUARDS

COWS AND CROWS AS MASCOTS. Whether Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish, or Welsh, the uieiubers, of the Brigade of Guards are as devoted to animals as any of tfieir brothers of the line. True, only one regiment, the Irish Guards, possesses an otticial pet, an Irish wolfhound, but to another- bl the units, the Scots Guards, belongs the distinction of having bad two of the most unusual mascots over attached to a British battalion (writes a subaltern in the "Daily Chronicle’'). These were two Belgian cows, captured bv the 2nd Battalion at Fleurbaix during the war, and promptly nicknamed Bella and Bertha. ( They went right through the war, and eventually accompanied their owners into Germany after the armistice. Like true infantrymen they did quite a Jot of marching, and for this reason it was deemed advisable to shoe them like horses. They yielded an excellent supply of milk to the troops, were included on the strength of the battalion when it marched through London in July, 1919, and later, bv permission of the King, were allowed to graze on the Royal meadows at Windsor. Other curious pets are the ravens at the Tower, which are officially on the strength of the Guards quartered there, though only five are allowed this privilege at the same time. They live to a good ago—one which died a year oi- so ago was 43—and when a vacancy thus occurs, they are recruited from outsid having an attestation form, and joining up like real soldiers. Their rations consist of half a pound of raw meat a day, but the officers frequently supplement this bj’ adding such delicacies as eggs. A raven hoe just ietricved a tennis ball, possibly in the mistaken belief that it is an '‘official” egg- The Irish Guards’ wolfhound must bo familiar to everyone who bus seen the regiment on ceremonial parade. Led by a. drummer boy—or, more correctly, leading him—ho heads the t men in the march past. To him is always given a special brunch of the Royal gift of sbnmroek on St. Patrick’s Day.