H 



FIRST CLASS OF THE VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 



sure that thefe was no deception, and being satisfied that the Colonel had only 

 pne arm, it passed on to his left hand and took the food. This fact was reported to 

 fd. de La Malle by M. Auguste de Puymaurin, the son of the depute^ on whose 

 authority it is inserted here. 



A well-trained Dog can often be brought to understand the meanings of words, 

 eyen though spoken without the slightest gesture or alteration of tone. M. Edwards 

 has been heard to mention an anecdote of a Dog, which was in the habit of seeking 

 and bringing back Gloves. If in the course of conversation, when the Dog would 

 appear to be paying no attention to what was going on, any mention was made of his 

 talents, and the word Gloves ( Gants) happened to be used, the Dog was off ira- 

 jnediately seeking out for them; and when they were found, he again resumed his 

 former position of careless listener to the conversation. Another Dog, which belonged 

 to an aunt of M. Audouin, was excited in the same way when Gingerbread cakes 

 were alluded to, of which he was very fond. If this word (^Ghnhlettes) happened to 

 be mentioned in the course of conversalion, and without any peculiar emphasis, he 

 was excited and ran to the cupboard where the cakes were shut up. This experi- 

 ment was often repeated before several people, who would not at first believe the 

 statement. 



M. de La Malle informs us, that one of his neighbours, the Count de Fontenay, was 

 engaged in some agricultural speculations relating to the breeding of the Merino 

 Sheep, jointly with the Marquis des Feugerets, whose property was situate about two 

 leagues from his own. The Count had a very fine Pointer, possessed of great in- 

 tfcUigence, and as he had educated this Dog himself, it almost seemed to anticipate hia 

 wishes. One day he had an urgent message to communicate to his neighbour, and 

 as no one was at hand to whom it could be entrusted, it occurred to him to try 

 whether the Dog would carry it. Accordingly he fastened the letter to Solimmis 

 collar, and told him carelessly, and without expecting him to obey the command, 

 ** Carry that to Feugerets!" (Porte cela aux Feugerets.) The Dog did as he was 

 desired, and would permit no one to touch the letter except the Marquis. " I have 

 seen this Dog," says M. de La Malle, *' for four or five years acting as messenger be- 

 tween these two Chateaux with a remarkable quickness and fidelity. When the Dog 

 delivers the letter, he goes to the kitchen to be fed. As soon as he has had his 

 meal, he sits down before the window of the Marquis des Feugerets' study, and barks 

 at intervals, to show that he is ready to take back the answer. On the letter being 

 attached to his collar, he sets off and brings it to the Count his master." 



It has been proved, beyond the possibility of doubt, that the property of pointing 

 and setting game, which some races of Dogs are made to acquire by feeding them 

 well, and then exercising a certain degree of constraint and punishment, is transmitted 

 unaltered to their descendants. M. Magendie, happening to hear that there was a race 

 of Dogs in England which brought back game natm'ally, procured two adult Retrievers. 

 These animals produced a female Retriever, which always remained under M. Ma- 

 gendie's immediate inspection, and though it had received no mstruction, it stopped 

 and brought back game, from the very first day that it was led tu the field, and this 

 it did with a degi-ee of steadiness fully equal to those Dogs which have learned this 

 art solely under the stern discijiline of the whip and coUai*. 



When the Spaniards discovered America, they introduced Dogs as auxiliaries in 

 their military expeditions against the Indians. Columbus first employed them for 

 that purpose, and we are informed in his own Memoirs, that at his first conflict 

 with the Indians, his army consisted of 200 foot soldiers, 20 horsemen, and 20 dogs. 

 These Dogs were employed in the conquest of several parts of the New World, espe- 

 cially in Mexico and New Grenada, wherever the resistance of the Indians was pro- 

 longed. We are informed by M. Roulin, that this race is still preserved pure 

 on the Plateau of Santa Fe, where it is used for Stag hunting. This it performs 

 with an extreme ardour, and still uses the same mode of attack, W'hich must have 

 rendered it so formidable to the Indians. It consists in seizing the animal by the 

 abdomen, and then overturning it by a sudden jerk, which is given at the moment, 

 when the weight of its body is thrown upon the fore-legs. Sometimes the weight of 

 the animal thus overturned is six times that of the Dog. 



Without receiving any previous education, the Dogs of pure breed, naturahzed in 

 South America, bring to the chase certain dispositions which the newly-introduced 

 coursing Dogs, though of a superior European breed, have not yet acquired. Thus, 

 the American Dogs never attack a Stag in front in the middle of its course, and 

 even when the latter comes towards a Dog without perceiving him, the sagacious 

 animal swerves to one side, and waits his opportunity to attack it in flank. A foreign 

 Dog, who is unaccustomed to these precautions, is often left dead on the spot, from 

 having the vertebra of his neck dislocated by the violence of the shock. 



Among the poor people inhabiting the banks of the Magdalena, this Dog has de- 

 generated, partly from the cross of another breed, and partly from the want of 

 suificient food. Even in this degenerate race, a new Instinct seems to become 

 hereditary. It has been long used exclusively in hunting the White-lipped Peccari 

 .(^Dicotyles lahiatus). The art of the Dog consists in moderating his ardour, and in 

 notattacking any particular animal, but thus keeping the entire herd in check. The 

 very first time that these Dogs are brought to the chase, they show then- knowledt^a 

 of this art, which has been transmitted to them by their pai'ents. A Doc of a 

 different breed rushes into the midst of the herd, is surrounded, and no matter how 

 great his strength may be, he is devoured in an instant. 



Those instances, where different varieties of the Dog unite their several talents 

 while hunting, and form one combined plan of operations, are perhaps still more 

 striking than any of the preceding. " I had at one time," says BI. de La Jlalle, 

 " two sporting Dogs, the one an excellent Pointer with a very smooth skin, and of 

 remai-kable beauty and inteUigence. The other w^as a Spaniel, with long and thick 

 hair, but which had not been taught to point, and only coursed in the woods hke a 

 Harrier. My Chateau is situate on a level spot of ground opposite to a copse-wood 

 filled with hares and rabbits. When sitting at my window, I have observed these 

 two Dogs, which were at large in the yard, approach and make signs to each other, 

 and first glancing at me as if to see whether I offered any obstacle to their wishes, 

 slip away very gently, then quicken their pace when they were a little distance from 

 my sight, and finally dart off at full speed when they thought I could neither see 



them nor order them back. Surprised at this mysterious manceuvre, I followed them, 

 and witnessed a singular sight. The Pointer, who seemed to be the leader of the 

 enterprise, had sent the Spaniel out to beat the bushes, and give tongue at the op- 

 posite extremity of the brushwood. As to himself, he made with slow steps the circuit 

 of the wood, by following it along the border, and 1 observed him stop before a pas- 

 sage much frequented by the rabbits, and there point. I continued at a distance to 

 observe how this intrigue was going to end. At length, I heard the Spaniel, which had 

 started a hare, drive it with much tongue towards the place where his companion 

 was lying in ambush, and the moment that the hare came out of the passage to gain the 

 fields, the latter darted upon it, and brought it towards me with an air of triumph. 

 I have seen these two Dogs repeat the same manoeuvre, and in the same manner, more 

 than a hundred times; and this conformity has convinced me that it was not ac- 

 cidental, but the result of a coneerted agreement and combined plan of operations 

 arranged beforehand." 



Leroy was of opinion that Wolves do the same thing ; but he founded his con- 

 clusions solely upon the traces of their foot-marks left on the snow or mud. The 

 same thing has been said by Hunters respecting Foxes, but the truth of it is very 

 doubtful. Indeed, these wild animals which hunt during the night, especially when 

 timid, are so difficult to observe, that these assertions require further confirmation, 

 especially when made of animals known to be of solitary habits. 



The fact that the domestic Dogs often combine their different talents to execute 

 one manceuvre, is further corroborated by M. Louis Chateaubriand, nephew of the 

 celebrated writer, who has witnessed the same thing between two Harriers and 

 a Pointer. It is clear, that whatever differences there may be between this contriv- 

 ance of the Dogs, and the ambuscade of a skilful general who hides his forces in the 

 woods or copses, and sends a small body of troops with orders to fall back before 

 the enemy, and draw them on towards the defiles, they both agree in being an 

 ambuscade — a trick played upon the credulity of the enemy, and require the same 

 operations of the Mind to direct them both. 



The workings of Sympathy among the domestic animals are very striking, and the 

 observations of M. de La Malle on this point have served to lead the way towards a 

 better acquaintance with its powerful influence. Having been educated in the country 

 during the earlier part of his life, he had amused himself with imitating the cries of 

 many wild and domestic animals, and from habit he acquired a skill so great, as to 

 deceive the animals themselves. In this way, by expressing after their own manner 

 the external signs of Pain, Anger, or Desire, he could excite the same passions in 

 them, and call forth at pleasure the external signs of those passions. By numerous 

 experiments, he found that the imitation of the sound always produced a sympathetic 

 effect, and he thus succeeded with Dogs, Cats, Asses, Cocks, Hens, &c., in produc- 

 ing the same results as a good comic or tragic actor upon an assembled audience, and 

 in making the house cry or laugh, according as his voice and gestures excited the 

 emotions of Grief or Joy. 



By yawning, and at the same time imitating the sound which accompanies the 

 yawn. Dogs maybe made to yawn at pleasure; but to succeed in the experiment, the 

 animals must be lying quiet for some time. If they be moving or in the field, their 

 attention will be otherwise engaged. When several Dogs are lying down together, 

 the first that yawns makes all the others follow, except those which have their atten- 

 tion occupied about any passing matter. 



In all ages, impostors have not been wanting, who have pretended to know and to 

 translate several w^ords in the language of the Mammalia, the Birds, and even of the 

 Insects. There is, however, a natural language, or language of signs, which can be 

 interpreted, and under this point of view, the animals may be considered as savages, 

 who are visited by civilized men for the first time, and of whose language they are 

 wholly ignorant. It is at first necessary to invent a language of signs for communi- 

 cating their ideas before a vocabulary has been formed of the most essential words. 

 We are told by M. de La Malle, that in most instances he has completely deceived 

 these animals ; and at other times, when the imitation was less accurate, they have 

 perceived the failure, and either treated it with contempt, or received it with an ex- 

 pression of ironic gaiety, as if they understood the joke, but at the same time were 

 not duped by it. These experiments were repeated so often by that able observer, 

 and so frequently produced the same results, that he is of opinion we may interpret 

 the language of signs and the symbols of the passions among Dogs as accurately as 

 we can the cries and gestures of the human race. While entering the house, he one 

 day imitated the cries of fighting Dogs with such accuracy, that his Dog, who w^as 

 very much attached to him, darted out and bit him in the leg. At the first word 

 the animal perceived his mistake, and threw himself howling on the ground, and ask- 

 ing pardon for the offence in the most affecting manner. Sometimes when behind a 

 screen, on imitating the gentle cries of the female, the Dogs were immediately ex- 

 cited, raised their eai-s, howled, and gave the usual indications on the approach of the 

 female. 



Numerous other instu.nces might here be adduced of an extraordinary development 

 of intelligence in the domestic races, and many of these are so striking, that they 

 have led some philosophers to assign to the animals certain qualities which are properly 

 Moral. Public exhibitions have been made of the extraordinary abilities of some 

 individuals, and interest has not failed to exaggerate then- talents beyond all reason- 

 able bounds. 



In the year 1830, there were two Poodle-Dogs or Water- Spaniels, called Fido 

 and Bianco, which were exhibited at Paris as the most learned individuals of their 

 race. They were said to be able to spell in different languages any word they heard 

 pronounced, to tell the name of the reigning sovereign, or to name the card which a 

 visitor had selected. These feats would doubtless have established their claim to the 

 possession of intellectual and moral qualities, but on examination, it was found that 

 their intelligence was even more limited than that of many others of their species, 

 and that all their learning resolved itself into a small matter. It was suspected that 

 their master had some private sign which the Dogs understood, but although the ex- 

 hibition was attended by several eminent Naturalists, it was long before they could 

 detect it. Those who have not seen the exhibition must be informed, that all the 

 letters of the alphabet, or all the playing cards, were arranged in a circle round tho 



