CONSCIENCE IN ANIMALS. 87 



I have a setter just now which has been made a pet of since a 

 puppy. As he has a very fine nose, and is at liberty to go wherever 

 he pleases, he often finds bits of food which he very well knows he 

 lias no right to take. If the food he finds happens to be of a dainty 

 description, his conscientious scruples are overcome by the tempta- 

 tions of appetite; but, if the food should be of a less palatable kind, he 

 generally carries it to me in order to obtain my permission to eat it. 

 Xow, as no one ever beats or even scolds this dog for stealing, his 

 only object in thus asking permission to eat what he finds must be 

 that of quieting his conscience. It should be added that when he 

 brings stolen property to me it does not always follow that he is al- 

 lowed to keep it. 



This same animal, when I am out shooting with him, sometimes 

 of course Hushes birds. When he does so he immediately comes to 

 me in a straight line, carrying his head and tail very low, as if to ask 

 for pardon. Although I speak reproachfully to him on such occasions, 

 I scarcely ever chastise him; so it cannot be fear that prompts this 

 demeanor. 



One other curious fact may here be mentioned about this dog. 

 Although naturally a very vivacious animal, and, when out for a walk 

 with myself or any other young person, perpetually ranging about in 

 search of game, yet if taken out for a walk by an elderly jDerson he 

 keeps close to heel all the time pacing along with a slow step and se- 

 date manner, as different as possible frorn that which is natural to him. 

 This curious behavior is quite spontaneous on his part, and appears 

 to rise from his sense of the respect that is due to age. 



The writer of the article on " Animal Depravity " makes the fol- 

 lowing quotation from an article of mine in Nature (vol. xii., page 

 66) : " The terrier used to be very fond of catching flies upon the 

 window-panes, and if ridiculed when unsuccessful was evidently much 

 annoyed. On one occasion, in order to see what he would do, I pur- 

 posely laughed immoderately every time he failed. It so happened 

 that he did so several times in succession partly, I believe, in conse- 

 quence of my laughing and eventually he became so distressed that 

 he positively pretended to catch the fly, going through all the ap- 

 propriate actions with his lips and tongue, and afterward rubbing the 

 ground with his neck as if to kill the victim ; he then looked up at me 

 with a triumphant air of success. So well was the whole process 

 simulated that I should have been quite deceived, had I not seen that 

 the fly was still upon the window. Accordingly, I drew his attention 

 to this fact, as well as to the absence of anything upon the floor ; and, 

 when he saw that his hypocrisy had been detected, he slunk away 

 under some furniture, evidently very much ashamed of himself." 



Upon this case the author of the article on " Animal Depravity " 

 very properly observes: "This last point is most significant, fully 

 overturning the vulgar notion of the absence of moral life in brutes, 



