Mental Processes in Animals. 345 



say that the little dog told Boxer all about it ; but I am 

 inclined to believe that the facts may be explained by the 

 communication " Come." 



Dogs can also communicate their wishes to us. The 

 action of begging in dogs is a mode of communication with 

 us. Mr. Eomanes tells of a dog that was found opposite a 

 rabbit-hutch begging for rabbits. When I was at the 

 Diocesan College near Capetown, a retriever, Scamp, 

 used to come in and sit with the lecturers at supper. He 

 despised bread, but used to get an occasional bone, which 

 he was not, however, allowed to eat in the hall. He took 

 it to the door, and stood there till it was opened for him. 

 On one occasion he heard without the excited barking of 

 the other dogs. He trotted round the hall, picked up a 

 piece of bread which one of the boys had dropped, and 

 stood with it in his mouth at the door. When it was 

 opened, he dropped the bread, and raced off into the 

 darkness to join in the fun. In a similar way, but with 

 less marked intelligence, I have seen a dog begging before 

 a door which he wished opened. My cat has been taught 

 to touch the handle of the door with his paw when he 

 wishes to leave the room. Mr. Arthur Lee, of Bristol, 

 tells me that a favourite cat has a habit of knocking for 

 admittance by raising the door-mat and letting it fall. 

 This is an action similar to those communicated by several 

 observers to Nature, where cats have learnt either to knock 

 for admittance or to ring the bell — an action which, as my 

 friend, Mr. J. Clifton Ward, informed me, was also per- 

 formed by a dog of his. I think, therefore, that it is 

 unquestionable that the higher animals are able to associate 

 arbitrary signs with certain objects and actions, and to 

 build these signs into the constructs that they form. Sir 

 John Lubbock has tried some experiments with his in- 

 telligent black poodle Van, with the object of ascertaining 

 how far the dog could be taught to communicate his wishes 

 by means of printed cards. "I took," he says,* "two 

 pieces of cardboard, about ten inches by three, and on one 



* " The Senses of Animals," p. 277. 



