104 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



All dogs enjoy the sport to which they are bred ; 

 and M. Blase tells us that he was once shooting near 

 Versailles, when his friend, M. Guillenian, accompanied 

 him, with permission to kill wild ducks on the preserve. 

 There was but one dog between them, but at the first 

 shot a fine spaniel ran up to them at full speed. He 

 plunged into the water, and caressing M. Guilleman, 

 seemed to say, 4 Here I am at your service ; amuse me, 

 and I will amuse you.' The gentlemen pursued their 

 sport all day, and the dog proved excellent. No one 

 appeared to own him ; but the sport over, off he set at 

 full gallop, and they saw him no more. They spoke of 

 him to the keeper of the water, who informed them that 

 the dog belonged to a sportsman living two leagues dis- 

 tant, who was at that time laid up with the gout. ' The 

 dog knows,' added the keeper, ' that persons come to 

 shoot here every Sunday ; and on that day regularly 

 makes his appearance. Having done his duty for the 

 first sportsman whom he meets, he returns to his master.' 



Mr. Martin, in his clever little treatise on dogs, 

 vouches for the truth of the following story : i One 

 morning, as a lady was lacing her boots, one of the laces 

 broke. She playfully said to her pet spaniel, who was 

 standing by her, " I wish you would find me another 

 boot-lace ;" but having managed to use that which was 

 broken, she thought no more about it. On the following 

 morning, when she was again lacing her boots, the dog 

 ran up to her with a new silken boot-lace in his mouth. 

 This created general amazement ; for where the dog had 

 obtained it, no one could tell. There was no doubt, 

 however, that he had purloined it from some one else.' 



A black and white spaniel, belonging to a friend of 

 mine, seemed to understand everything said to him; and 



