130 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

The Dalmatian Colonel Smith places the Dalmatian dog
Dog. with the hounds on the ground of similarity
of general structure. Elegant in form and beautiful in mak-
ing it is said to be less keen in scent and less sagacious than
other dogs. Sagacious or not, it was one of these dogs that
Lord Maynard found awaiting him at his house in England
after having lost him in France.
The Turnspit. “The Turnspit,” says Captain Brown, “derived its
name from the service in which it was engaged before the
invention of machinery to do the same work, and, what is
remarkable, now that the office is extinct, so also has nearly
become the species which used to perform it.” “I have now
in my kitchen,” said the Duke de Laincourt, to M. Descartes,
“two turnspits which take their turns regularly every other
day in the wheel: one of them, not liking his employment,
hid himself on the day he should have wrought, when his
companion was forced to mount the wheel in his stead; but
crying and wagging his tail, he intimated that those in atten-
dance should first follow him. He immediately conducted
them to a garret, where he dislodged the idle dog, and killed
him immediately.” Another instance is recorded by Captain
Brown as follows: “When the cook had prepared the meat
for roasting, he found that the dog which should have wrought
the spit had disappeared. He attempted to employ another,
but it bit his leg and fled. Soon after, however, the refrac-
tory dog entered the kitchen driving before him the truant
turnspit, which immediately of its own accord went into the
wheel.” It is easy to see from these stories that the occupa-
tion was not a popular one and it is well that it is no longer
@ mecessary one.
The Pointer. The pointer (Canis avicularis) as resembling
the race of hounds, more than any other of the shooting or
gun dogs is placed next to them in the classification of
Colonel Smith, who says: “In their present qualities of
standing fixed and pointing to game, we see the result of a