672 THE DOG. 



and when they have left her, no other tie than between any 

 other dogs seems to exist between the members of the 

 family. It is common to destroy the young puppies which 

 are not to be brought up, by drowning them. The mother 

 has been seen to search the neighbouring pools, and, hav- 

 ing found her little ones, to bring them to her couch, and 

 fondle them with anxious meanings. When the destruction 

 of the entire litter has been more than once repeated, the 

 anxious mother has been known to carry off her whelps as 

 soon as born and conceal them, stealing to them from time 

 to time to suckle them. A mother deprived of her own cubs 

 has been known to steal one or more of the young of another 

 and suckle them, nay, to nurse the young of other animals, 

 as the fox, the rabbit, the cat, and treat them with the same 

 tenderness as her natural offspring. 



The form and habits of Dogs vary in every degree with 

 race, and the habitudes to which the parent stock has been 

 long inured. A race of dogs accustomed to follow a parti- 

 cular kind of game communicates the like propensities to 

 the offspring. The Pointer, inured from generation to gene- 

 ration to steal on birds, and stand when he approaches them, 

 communicates the same propensity to his progeny, who 

 scarcely require even discipline to teach them the arts of the 

 parents. The Wolf-hound communicates to his young an 

 instinctive antipathy to the Wolf, which reappears even after 

 several generations. * The Terrier who has been used to the 

 chase of the polecat or any other of the weasel tribe, com- 

 municates to his descendants his own fierce hatred to the 

 same animals, which the whelp will manifest the moment he 

 comes upon the track, although he may never before have 

 seen one of the species ; while the young of the Cocker 

 manifests no antipathy to the same kinds of animals, though 

 it will pursue with ardour the scent of the woodcock or phea- 

 sant. A puppy of the breed of the Great Dog of St Bernard's 

 will follow the track of human footsteps on the snow, al- 

 though it may have been brought to a distant country from 



