68 DOG STORIES 



of tone or gesture that I was aware of, 

 " Drive that dog away, Fechter." He 

 immediately rushed at him, and we saw no 

 more of our troubler. I have long thought 

 that dogs do understand, not " the precise 

 sounds themselves, but the intention put into 

 them by the speaker." 



AN OBSERVER OF ANIMALS. 



ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



{Aug. 1 8, 1883.] 



PERHAPS I should have said the "Intelligence 

 of Animals," but my meaning, in relation 

 to the interesting correspondence in your 

 columns, is no doubt clear. The whole 

 question seems to me to lie in the proverbial 

 nutshell, and to be solvable by the proverbial 

 ' common sense. Dogs' hearing is undoubtedly 

 very keen and accurate, and even subtle ; and 

 dogs have also the power of putting this and 

 that together in a marvellously shrewd and 

 almost rational fashion. They cannot under- 

 stand sentences, but they get hold of words, 

 i.e., sounds, and keep them pigeon-holed in 



