232 BOMBAY DUCKS 



He knows what obedience is, although he sometimes 

 acts as if he did not. He is slow to make friends 

 among men, but once made he retains them by faithful 

 devotion. He is not demonstrative in his friendship. 

 He has been known to wag his tail ; but he performs 

 this action sedately and decorously, I might say, half- 

 heartedly. He never dreams of wagging the whole 

 posterior end of his body, as some dogs do. He is 

 enthusiastic over nothing, not even his food. You 

 hand him a bone ; he accepts it with a blase indiffer- 

 ence which is quite refreshing. He has no pretty, 

 winning ways, no mischievous tricks. He is essentially 

 a man's dog. 



Tony is what the women-folk call an " affectionate 

 dog " — this means that he makes friends with every 

 stranger who comes within the gates. The more 

 strange the person, the more pleased is Tony to see 

 him. He is fond of all men, and loves eatables as 

 himself He is as partial to the kitchen as a schoolboy 

 to the tuck shop. Mischievous, restless, and disobedient, 

 Tony is the canine counterpart of the bad boy whose 

 diary we all read with delight. 



Bob, although, unlike the volatile Tony^ he does not 

 spend his days in cutting mad capers, in trying to 

 catch his own tail and committing other such frivolities, 

 likes exercise in moderation. He is distinctly fond of 

 shikar, and is quite content to sit half the day under 

 a tree contemplating with eager eyes the squirrels, 

 which are disporting themselves among the branches 

 and openly insulting him. At night, when the squirrels 

 are asleep in their dreys, the musk - rats give him 

 sufficient exercise to keep his body in health. 



