SCIENCE OF THE WILDS, POETRY OF SPOUT. 173 



and faithful dog. I have seen it three times in dogs 

 in my own possession : of those, the case of my 

 retriever Diver was the most recent as Avell as the 

 most remarkable. Early in the morning of his 

 accidental death by my hand and gun, he got 

 loose from the house where he was chained on the 

 hiwn, close to the front door ; was seen to pass 

 round by the back door (the front door had always 

 been free to him when at large, but he did not in 

 this instance come near it), thence he left home, 

 and subsequently was reported as lying in the grass 

 by the side of the high road, near some men mend- 

 ing the road, whom at any other time he would 

 have avoided or bitten. Thence he was re-called 

 by the gamekeeper, and, returning with him, seemed 

 for a moment as willing to serve and as affectionate 

 to me as ever, and, as usual, on the sight of the 

 shooting party, ready to do his duty. He did his 

 work that day as well as usual, save that at periods 

 of the morning he seemed dull, which I attributed, 

 at the time, to some slight lameness or passing 

 indisposition. In the afternoon he sprang too 

 quickly from my lieels as I fired the second barrel 

 over a bank ; the charge caught him on the extreme 

 l^ack of the skull^ and killed liim on tlic spot. 



