666 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



be formed with a natural desire for a particular sort of food, 

 the use of which would prove destructive to some of his 

 faculties. 



Although, however, the dog is strictly a carnivorous ani- 

 mal, yet he can subsist on many kinds of food ; which is 

 the case, also, with various other animals more highly carni- 

 vorous in their nature. It has been said of man himself, 

 that feeding on flesh destroys his sense of smell in some de- 

 gree ; and in support of this statement it is alleged, that 

 certain natives of India, who feed entirely on grain, have the 

 olfactory sense in such a degree of perfection, that they can 

 distinguish the smell of the water of one spring from that 

 of another. But such accuracy of discrimination has been 

 satisfactorily ascertained to be entirely the result of practice. 



The nutriment best adapted for sporting dogs, so as to 

 enable them to perform their work well, should consist of at 

 least two-thirds of flesh, with a judicious mixture of farina- 

 ceous vegetables. It is an established fact, that dogs in a 

 domesticated state invariably become lean if fed entirely 

 upon flesh. 



Good water is of great consequence to the health of dogs, 

 as they drink frequently and copiously, and particularly 

 setters ; but the idea that dogs being kept long without 

 water produces canine madness, is a vulgar prejudice. 



The dog is naturally a voracious animal ; and yet he can 

 endure hunger for a very great length of time, and be 

 brought by habit to subsist on a very scanty meal. In the 

 Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, it is mentioned, that a 

 bitch which was forgot in a country house, where she had 

 access to no other nourishment, lived forty days on the wool 

 of an old mattress, which she had torn to pieces. 



An extraordinary instance of a similar kind occurred with 

 a terrier bitch belonging to a friend of my own. One day, 



