Chap. XVII.] PREFERENCES IN PAIRING. 259 



regard to a female retriever and a spaniel, both of which 

 became enamoured with terrier-dogs. 



Mr. Cupples informs me that he can personally vouch 

 for the accuracy of the following more remarkable case, 

 in which a valuable and wonderfully-intelligent female 

 terrier loved a retriever, belonging to a neighbor, to such 

 degree that she had often to be dragged away from him. 

 After their permanent separation, although repeatedly 

 thowing milk in her teats, she would never acknowledge 

 she courtship of any other dog, and, to the regret of her 

 owner, never bore puppies. Mr. Cupples also states that 

 a female deer-hound now (1868) in his kennel has thrice 

 produced puppies, and on each occasion showed a marked 

 preference for one of the largest and handsomest, but not 

 the most eager, of four deer-hounds living with her, all in 

 the prime of life. Mr. Cupples has observed that the fe- 

 male generally favors a dog whom she has associated with 

 and knows ; her shyness and timidity at first incline her 

 against a strange dog. The male, on the contrary, seems 

 rather inclined toward strange females. It appears to be 

 rare when the male refuses any particular female, but Mr. 

 Wright, of Yeldersley House, a great breeder of dogs, in- 

 forms me that he has known some instances ; he cites the 

 case of one of his own deer-hounds, who would not take 

 any notice of a particular female mastiff, so that another 

 deer-hound had to be employed. It would be superfluous 

 to give other cases, and I will only add that Mr. Barr 

 who has carefully bred many blood-hounds, states that in 

 almost every instance particular individuals of the oppo- 

 site sex show a decided preference for each other. Finally 

 Mr. Cupples, after attending to this subject for another 

 year, has recently written to me : "I have had full con- 

 firmation of my former statements, that dogs in breeding 

 form decided preferences for each other, being often in- 

 fluenced by size, bright color, and individual character, as 

 well as by the degree of their previous familiarity." 



