QUADRUPEDS. 



355 



perfectly understood the conversation which concerned 

 him. I had taken a bitch from Vienna to Paris: in a 

 very short time she comprehended French as well as Ger- 

 man, of which I satisfied myself by repeating before her 

 whole sentences in both languages." 



Elephants habitually perform certain duties on the 

 mere verbal promise of special rewards, which it would be 

 very dangerous to withhold when the condition is accom- 

 plished. 



But one of the most remarkable examples on record of 

 this faculty, is the following story of a Spaniel, avouched 

 by the personal knowledge of a zoologist of deserved repu- 

 tation. li One morning, as the lady to whom the spaniel 

 belongs was lacing her boots, one of the laces broke. She 

 turned to the dog, and playfully said, ' Oh dear ! I wish 

 you would find me another boot-lace / and having managed 

 with the broken one, thought no more about it. On the 

 following morning, when she was again lacing her boots, 

 her spaniel ran up to her with a new silken boot-lace in 

 his mouth; not only to her great amazement, but that of 

 the family. Where the dog had obtained the boot-lace no 

 one could tell; but, doubtless, he had purloined it from 

 some workbox or similar repository." * 



The same naturalist has mentioned several instances in 

 which a communication was made by one animal to another 

 of certain events that had occurred to the former, and of a 

 definite and intelligent common action resulting. 



Every observant reader must be aware that the Brutes 

 — especially those which, being domesticated, come more 

 frequently under our notice — display many of what, in 



* Martin's "History of the Dog," 1S3. 



