660 
MISCELLANEA. 
Mr. Maltby, after a short deliberation, said, “ the evidence before 
me leaves no doubt on my mind that the animals were in a state 
of extreme torture owing to the way in which they were carried. 
The defendant was also driving at a pace which must have increased 
that torture ; and when attention was drawn to the circumstance, 
he made no alteration whatever. This makes it a deliberate act of 
cruelty on the part of the defendant. It is said that the defendant 
only carried the animals according to the general custom, and that 
no other way existed of carrying them to market ; but custom or 
usual practice is no answer to a charge like this, if the practice or 
custom is cruel. The evidence proves that, in a cart less crowded, 
calves may be carried with less torture, and I shall, therefore, in- 
flict a penalty of 40s., against which you can, if you choose, enter 
an appeal.” 
Notice of appeal was given. 
The Times, June 26th, 1846. 
Canine Sagacity. 
A SINGULAR instance of canine sagacity and affection was dis- 
covered the other night in an unfrequented part of the beautiful 
den of Craighall. A bitch of a superior description, belonging to 
Mr. Walker, of Cassindilly, has several times had pups, which have 
always been drowned. On those occasions she has evinced great 
uneasiness and distress; and on the present resolved, if possible, to 
secure her young and rear them in safety. For some time past she 
had been observed to leave the farm and return at regular intervals 
for her food, and so anxious did she appear to keep her retreat 
secret, that she was often known to go out to a high place near the 
farm and wait until she saw her road clear, when she would run off 
in some new direction ; but she was never known to take the same 
road twice. Once or twice she was noticed about Craighall, and 
after a search it was found that she was rearing her young family 
in a hole in one of the old quarries, at the distance of two or three 
miles from the place where she received her food. As a reward 
for her fidelity and attachment, her young have been taken under 
charge by Mr. Brown, the keeper of the den, and food has been 
supplied to her, so that she continues to nurse her pups in the place 
where they were born. There have been many applications for 
the pups, which are dogs of a first rate appearance . — Fife Herald. 
