WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



ble to other persons. When she met a person 

 whom she had met before, she instantly recognized 

 him by the odor of his hand or glove. If it was a 

 stranger, she smelt his hand, and the impres- 

 sion remained so strong that she could recognize 

 him long after by again smelling his hand, or even 

 his glove, if he had just taken it off; and if, of half 

 a dozen strangers, each one should throw his glove 

 into a hat, she would take one, smell it, then smell 

 the hand of each person, and unerringly assign 

 each glove to its owner. She would pick out the 

 gloves of a brother and sister by the similarity of 

 odor, but could not distinguish between them. 

 Similar cases might be produced, though hardly 

 one of superior education in this respect; and in 

 the light of it, it is not difficult to suppose that a 

 sharp dog should be able to follow back a train of 

 odors that he had experienced shortly before. 



But there is another way by which anxious ani- 

 mals may learn their route both going and coming, 

 and that is by listening and inquiring. It is re- 

 markable how much of what is said by their mas- 

 ters all dogs understand. The books and period- 

 icals of natural history and sport abound with il- 

 lustrations of this, and one lately occurred within 

 my own experience. A very good-natured and 

 16 241 



