DOGS I HAVE KNOWN 79 



of anyone or anything, except twice a day, when 

 regularly, about half-past eleven in the morning and 

 at four in the afternoon, it would get np, and, if the 

 French windows were open, would go out on to the 

 lawn. If they were closed, it waited till the door 

 was opened, and then going out, went each day to 

 the same exact spot, and commenced running round 

 and round in a circle from right to left. Having 

 done this for some minutes, he would stop, rear up 

 on his hind legs, and giving his head a most peculiar 

 twist, much like the way parrots and owls twist 

 their necks, he would then drop down again, and 

 run the circle from left to right. Having done 

 this, he came indoors, and lay down on the rug. He 

 never showed the least affection for anyone, or ap- 

 peared to know them. If you called out to him, he 

 would sometimes look up in a vague sort of way, as 

 if he wondered what the noise was ; and the foot- 

 man had to lead him out to meals each day, as the 

 dog never made the least attempt to stir in search 

 of food. The man used to say he had more trouble 

 to make this dog feed than to keep any others from 

 devouring whatever they could get at. Altogether, 

 the dog did not seem to have the least sense in 

 the world, and was, I think, an undoubted 

 idiot. 



The second case of the sort I met with was in a 



