218 The Carnivora. 
instruments of torture are mere nonsense. Dogs treated 
cruelly become either fools or savages—in either case worth- 
less for the purpose intended. No particular breed is pre- 
ferred to another. I have seen a fox terrier, an ugly mongrel 
of unimaginable parentage, a poodle, and two very well bred 
settérs going through a most intricate performance together, 
and enjoying it as thoroughly as our own dogs enjoy the 
daily walk. The poodle is almost always the clown of the 
company, but the mongrel in this troupe was by far the 
cleverest. The owner of these dogs told me that he relied 
very little on imitation when training his pupils. They were 
taken through their lessons singly, step by step, and usually 
alone. 
The most striking example of the exercise of the imitative 
faculty I have met with is the following, given me by an 
old friend, whose dogs have been among the best educated 
of my acquaintance: “The other day I was endeavouring 
to teach my Irish terrier, who is rather more than a year 
old, to hold a crust on her nose, and throw it up and catch 
it on a signal being given; but she would pay no attention 
whatever to the lesson. Some week or so afterwards, the 
retriever, about the same age, was undergoing instruction in 
the same trick, and made scarcely any progress, in spite of 
all I could do: Meanwhile, the terrier was intently watching 
the proceedings; and when I had dismissed the dog, she came 
up to me spontaneously, and without any invitation from me, 
and presented her nose in the right position. The crust was 
placed on it, and, quivering with excitement, she waited for 
the signal. This having been given, she threw up the crust, 
and caught it as neatly as any old stager.” Properly speak- 
ing, this was due to observation, and to reflection on her 
former lesson, as much as to unitation, and was probably 
prompted by the spirit of emulation. 
It has been observed by travellers that savages, when shown 
a picture or a portrait of themselves, have sometimes taken 
no notice of it, as though they did not recognise in it the 
