180 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 
root in the forests or fields, are the subjects of 
many anecdotes. They have been trained in 
several instances to scent and point game-birds 
like a dog; and have been a feature at country 
fairs in Great Britain for many years, picking 
out letters of the alphabet as they were called, 
and forecasting the fortunes of rustic damsels by 
selection of cards. 
The French clown Corvi, of whom I spoke 
a little while ago, trained pigs effectually, and 
says that it requires extreme patience and tender- 
ness of treatment. The least touch of the whip 
disfigures the tender skin and disgusts the ani- 
mal with work. Only coaxing succeeds. There 
is an Irish proverb which runs thus: “ Beat your 
wife with a cudgel, and your pig with a straw.” 
The minor carnivora have furnished the theatre 
with several profitable animals, as dogs, cats, 
wolves, jackals, hyenas, seals, and others. 
Of the dog we would expect a great deal under 
the tutelage of a practical teacher of animal tricks, 
and the public, perhaps, has not been disappointed, 
though to the naturalist the result does not seem 
very extensive or encouraging. Of all animals, it 
is the one most closely associated with man, and 
probably has the deepest insight into the human 
mind — quite as deep, perhaps, as we have into 
the canine mind. Through unnumbered genera- 
tions of special breeding, his inclinations have 
been modified toward those things in which he 
