260 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



who were looking on, succeeded in drawing them 

 apart. 



One more instance of many which I have 

 observed during the last two years. This is of a 

 rather large and exceptionally powerful fox-terrier, 

 who when out for a walk keeps a very sharp look- 

 out for other dogs, and the instant he spies one 

 not bigger than himself charges him furiously and 

 with the impact hurls him to the ground, and, 

 leaving him there, he dashes on in search of a 

 fresh victim. 



These are, however, exceptions, few individuals 

 having intelligence enough to find out a new way 

 of inflicting injury. As a rule the dog of ineradicably 

 savage temper looks at his fellows as if saying, 

 " Oh, for five minutes with this cursed muzzle 

 off ! " And the others, seeing his terrible aspect, 

 are glad that the muzzle is on — a blessed muzzle 

 it is to them ; and if they only knew what the 

 doggie people were saying in the papers and could 

 express their views on the subject, many of them 

 would be heard to cry out, " Save us from our 

 friends ! " 



The muzzling order had thus appeared to me 

 as a sort of Golden Age of the metropolitan dogs 

 — and cats, .for these too had incidentally been 

 affected and strangely altered in their habits. And 

 here I must say that all I wrote in my note -book 

 about the dogs during and just after the muzzling 

 period has been compressed into as short a space 



