84 THE COMMON DOG. 



means an unusual thing to see dogs that are deli- 

 cately taken care of, leave the food provided for 

 them, and run, with avidity, to devour carrion; 

 and they will sometimes roll, with great apparent 

 delight, on the corrupted fragments. 



They seldom eat of raw vegetables, except medi- 

 cinally. When they are unwell, they bite off, and 

 swallow, the blades of several kinds of grass. These 

 are supposed to be of use in exciting them to vo- 

 mit, M. Sonnini says, that he has seen a Bastard 

 pug Dog, (Roquet,) which every day swallowed a 

 quantity of snuff. As soon as a snuff-box was 

 opened, it was always exceedingly troublesome 

 till some one put a pinch into its mouth*. 



Most of the Dogs have a nicety of scent, unusual 

 in other animals. This is particularly the case in 

 all kinds of sporting Dogs, except the Greyhound; 

 and by this they are not merely enabled to hunt 

 their .prey, but they can follow the track of their 

 master, when not in sight, to surprising distances. 

 By this faculty also it is, that, when any thing is 

 i thrown for a Dog to fetch, he will always make 

 sure of it, though it may not have been previously 

 shown to him. A little Scotch Terrier, belonging 

 to the late Captain John Campbell, of the Royal 

 Horse Artillery, (as I have repeatedly witnessed,) 

 after hearing a stone thrown out of a window, in 



* Addition a 1' Article du Chien, xxiii. p. 346. 



a per- 



