100 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



same dog, which afterwards returned, having travelled a dis- 

 tance of twenty-eight miles to give pleasure to his old blind 

 friend. 



Instances might easily be multiplied but we must con- 

 tent ourselves with one of a very different character from 

 Colonel Hamilton Smith's "Cyclopaedia of Natural History." 

 " In the neighbourhood of Cupar, in the county of Fife, there 

 lived two dogs, mortal enemies to each other, and who always 



fought desperately whenever they met. Capt. R was the 



master of one of them, and the other belonged to a neigh- 

 bouring farmer. Capt. R 's dog was in the practice of 



going messages, and even of bringing butchers' meat and 

 other articles from Cupar. One day, while returning, charged 

 with a basket containing some pieces of mutton, he was 

 attacked by some of the curs of the town, who, no doubt, 

 thought the prize worth contending for. The assault was 

 fierce, and of some duration ; but the messenger, after doing 

 his utmost, was at last overpowered and compelled to yield 

 up the basket, though not before he had secured a part of 

 its contents. The piece saved from the wreck he ran off 

 with, at full speed, to the quarters of his old enemy, at 

 whose feet he laid it down, stretching himself beside it till 

 he had eaten it up. A few snuffs, a few whispers in the ear, 

 and other dog-like courtesies, were then exchanged; after 

 which they both set off together for Cupar, where they 

 worried almost every dog in the town; and, what is more 

 remarkable, they never afterwards quarrelled, but were always 

 on friendly terms." This story also illustrates another char- 

 acteristic of the dog family. Dogs combine for purposes of 

 offence and defence. Cats stand or fall alone. 



Dog The foregoing is also a proof of the faculty by 



Language. which animals can communicate their ideas to 

 each other which in dogs is particularly remarkable. There 

 are many curious anecdotes recorded, illustrative of this 

 faculty. " At Horton, England, about the year 1818, a gentle- 



