70 Boundary between Man (January, 
where it was taken to the kitchen to be fed, on which occa- 
sion two large favourite cats flew at it several times, and 
scratched it severely. The spaniel was in the habit of fol- 
lowing its mistress in her walks in the garden, and by 
degrees it formed a friendship with a young cat of the 
gardener’s, which it tempted into the house,—first into the 
hall, and then into the kitchen,—where, on finding one of 
the large cats, the spaniel and its ally fell on it together, 
and beat it well. They then waited for the other, which 
they served in the same manner, and finally drove them 
both from the kitchen. The two friends continued after- 
wards to eat off the same plate as long as the spaniel 
remained with its mistress in the house.”* How, without 
some kind of language capable of entering into special 
details did the spaniel persuade its friend to enter the house, 
and join in hostilities against two beings of its own species ? 
Yet there are on record cases, not a few, of dogs and of cats 
which have brought allies from a distance to aid them in 
revenging an injury. To give all the well-authenticated and 
current instances where one animal has thus been known to 
convey to another some definite piece of information would be 
foreign to my plan, but there are many works on Natural 
History that will fully supply the deficiency. 
I have next to call attention to the fact that domestic 
animals frequently understand what is said by man. I do 
not refer to words of command to which they have been 
trained, nor to other cases where the tone of the voice and 
the accompanying looks and gestures might reasonably be 
expected to throw some light upon the meaning of the 
speaker. Take the following instance :—A woman was often 
annoyed by the depredations which the poultry, and espe- 
cially a certain young cock, committed in the garden. One 
day, after driving out the poultry, she said, in the heat of 
the moment, ‘I wish that cock were dead!’ A little favourite 
dog, which had been present as she spoke, ran out, and 
shortly afterwards returned, dragging in, to her surprise and 
horror, the lifeless body of the offending cock.” We may 
grant that the dog had seen its mistress drive out the 
poultry, and knew thus that they were the object of her 
anger; but how, except from understanding her words, 
could he learn that the cock was, in her opinion, the main 
offender, and that she desired his death? ‘Take another 
case :—‘‘ The Rev. James Simpson, of Liberton, had a very 
intelligent dog. He remarked one day to a friend, in its 
“ JeNnyn’s Observations on Natural History, p. 71. 
