232 



MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



The old saying, " Train up a child in the way it should go," 

 applies equally well to a dog. From the first, Peter has been 

 scrupulously clean and well-behaved (his left paw has just come 

 perilously near the wet ink), and I quite believe the dog responds 

 by good manners and immense faithfulness as his only means of 

 demonstrating the care which is bestowed upon him. Here is 



Peter, a striking likeness, 

 showing him in a very 

 characteristic attitude. 

 / My dog is a great per- 

 sonality in the household. 

 He insists (and usually suc- 

 ceeds) in knowing exactly 

 what is taking place in the 

 daily routine, and seems 

 acquainted with all the 

 movements of the persons 

 with whom he is brought 

 into contact. He has ac- 

 companied me on many of 

 my travels. He has been 

 to Ben Nevis, and to the 

 summit of Snowdon. 



Although every day may 

 be alike to him, he appears 

 to enjoy each moment of 

 his existence, and, except 

 when overtired after return- 

 ing home from an extended outdoor excursion, the wee 

 mite (for there isn't very much of him even now) is always 

 good-tempered. (The left foot is half-way across the written 

 sheet now, and the dog looks in a philosophic mood ! He is 

 lying lengthwise right along my writing-pad, and refuses to budge. 

 Having just come in from an outing, I am loth to disturb him !) 

 He accompanies me every morning and night on my saunters 

 round Norton Common, and, like myself, must know almost 

 every bush, tree, and pathway. He always runs sideways, with 

 nose to ground, and, as he is given to following " trails," we 

 attach a bell to his collar so as to be able to follow his exact 

 whereabouts in the undergrowth. Although not a poacher, he 

 invariably chases birds away from the shallow pan of water put 

 out in the garden, and one day he came trotting down the lawn 



FIG. 98. MY DOG, PETER. 



