100 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

same dog, which afterwards returned, having travelled a dis-
tance of twenty-eight miles to give pleasure to his old blind
friend.

Instances might easily be multiplied but we must con-
tent ourselves with one of a very different character from
Colonel Hamilton Smith’s “Cyclopedia of Natural History.”
“In the neighbourhood of Cupar, in the county of Fife, there
lived two dogs, mortal enemies to each other, and who always
fought desperately whenever they met. Capt. R was the
master of one of them, and the other belonged to a neigh-
bouring farmer. Capt. R——’s dog was in the practice of
going messages, and even of bringing butchers’ meat and
other articles from Cupar. One day, while returning, charged
with a basket containing some pieces of mutton, he was
attacked by some of the curs of the town, who, no doubt,
thought the prize worth contending for. The assault was
fierce, and of some duration; but the messenger, after doing
his utmost, was at last overpowered and compelled to yield
up the basket, though not before he had secured a part of
its contents. The piece saved from the wreck he ran off
with, at full speed, to the quarters of his old enemy, at
whose feet he laid it down, stretching himself beside it till
he had eaten it up. A few snuffs, a few whispers in the ear,
and other dog-like courtesies, were then exchanged; after
which they both set off together for Cupar, where they
vorried almost every dog in the town; and, what is more
emarkable, they never afterwards quarrelled, but were always
on friendly terms.” This story also illustrates another char-
acteristic of the dog family. Dogs combine for purposes. of
offence and defence. Cats stand or fall alone.

Dog The foregoing is also a proof of the faculty by
Language. which animals can communicate their ideas to
each other which in dogs is particularly remarkable. There
are many curious anecdotes recorded, illustrative of this
faculty. “At Horton, England, about the year 1818, a gentle-