532 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The peasants* dogs of the southwest of France dislike the 

 country millers, because of the long whips which they are always 

 carrying and snapping, and with which the dogs, running after 

 them, are often struck. From as far off as the snapping of the 

 whip can be heard, the dogs come to wait for the millers and pur- 

 sue them ; and it is easy to recognize when the millers are passing, 

 by the behavior of the dogs. There is in this also a significance, 

 at once aggressive and defensive, in the cries which one can, by 

 giving a little attention, soon learn to distinguish. 



Another example of the reality of the various meanings of the 

 cries of the dog under different circumstances is afforded by the 

 companies that collect around a female in heat. 



I have a very intelligent and experienced brach-hound, the 

 same which with the bitch had to face the attack of the wolf. 

 He amuses me much at my country lunches. Hunting-dogs 

 which have been much with their masters at lunch do not like to 

 have the drinking-glass offered them. This dog was much afraid 

 of the glass, and I had only to present it to him at lunch-time to 

 make him keep his distance. I used to keep my door open at 

 lunch, for the amusement of observing how I could make him 

 stop exactly at the threshold without stepping over it. If he had 

 passed over it I could always send him back by casting toward 

 him a few drops of water from the bottom of the glass after 

 drinking. Sitting, as was his habit, on the sill of the door, with 

 the tip of his muzzle never extending beyond the plane of the 

 panels, he would follow my motions with the closest attention, 

 reminding me, if I failed to give him a sign of attention, by a dis- 

 creet, plaintive cry, that he was there. But if I touched my glass 

 he would spring up at once ; if I filled it, he would put himself on 

 guard, utter a kind of sigh, sneeze, lick his lips, yawn, and, shak- 

 ing his ears briskly, make little stifled cries. Then he would 

 grow impatient, and more and more watchful and nervous. 

 When I lifted my glass to my lips he would draw back, working 

 gradually nearer to the farther door, and at last disappear and 

 hide. One who was looking at him without seeing me could tell 

 by his wails and his attitude the level and position of my glass. 

 When the glass was horizontal, I could see only about half of his 

 head, with one eye regarding me fixedly, for that was usually the 

 critical moment — the one, also, when the wails and restraints were 

 most demonstrative of the anxious fear of my poor animal. 



When we dine in the kitchen, which is on the ground floor, 

 the dogs are usually all put out. There are four of them, three 

 young and not experienced, and this old, sagacious brach-hound. 

 He insists on coming in, and, to gain his purpose, tries to have 

 the door opened. Although no person may be coming up the 

 walk, he dashes down it barking, all the others going along too 



