156 INGENUITY OF A HORSE. 



night. The neighbours persisting in the charge^ the 

 dog one night was watched^ and he was seen to get 

 his head out of the muzzle, then to go into a field, 

 and kill and eat as much of a sheep as satisfied his 

 appetite. He next went into the river to wash his 

 mouth or quench his thirst, and returned afterwards 

 to his kennel, got his head into the muzzle again, 

 and lay very quietly down to sleep." * This looks 

 like a consciousness of doing what he ought not 

 to do, and a determination to indulge appetite by 

 stealth. 



The same design is apparent in a horse, which 

 had been observed to disengage his head from the 

 halter, then to open the door of the stable and go 

 out, in the middle of the night only, and regale upon 

 com in a field at a considerable distance from the 

 stable. The horse returned to his stall before the 

 break of day, and had continued this practice some 

 time without being detected. He adroitly opened 

 the door by drawing a string fastened to the latch 

 with his teeth. And it is said that on returning to 

 the stable he shut the door : but I am not so credu- 

 lous as to attribute that to design, but rather to the 



* Related by Miss Sneyd, sister to the late Mrs. Edge- 

 worth. 



