420 
SAGACITY AND FIDELITY OF THE DOG. 
The Goat Sucker. 
The harmless, unoffending' goat sucker, from the time of 
Aristotle down to the present day, has been in disgrace with 
man. Father has handed it down to son, and author to author, 
that this nocturnal thief subsists by milking the flocks. Poor 
injured little bird of the night, how sadly hast thou suffered ; and 
how foul a stain has inattention to facts put on thy character! 
Thou hast never robbed man of any part of his property, nor 
deprived the kid of a drop of milk. 
When the moon shines bright, you may have a fair opportunity 
of examining the goat sucker. You will see it close to the cows, 
goats, and sheep, jumping' up every now and then under their 
bellies. Approach a little nearer—he is not shy—he fears no 
danger, for he knows no sin. See how the nocturnal flies are 
tormenting the herd, and with what dexterity he springs up and 
catches them, fast as they alight on the belly, legs, and udder 
of the animals. Observe how quiet they, stand, and how sen¬ 
sible they seem of his good offices, for they neither strike at him 
nor hit him with their tail, nor tread on him, nor try to drive him 
away as an uncivil intruder. Were you to dissect him, and in¬ 
spect his stomach, you would find no milk there. It is full of the 
flies which have been annoying the herd. 
Watertons Wanderings in South America, p. 139,140. 
Sagacity and Fidelity of the Dog. 
In visiting one of the churchyards here, where they have got 
into the way of burying in a Tow and going regularly from one 
end to the other, I found a dog buried in it, through the affection 
of his master, who, being a man of property, had travelled the 
continent, and taken this dog to Rome with him, and left him there 
with a friend, and returned to Edinburgh. Six months after his 
master had left, this dog, it seems, leaving Rome, set out alone in 
quest of his master ; ana, tracing his route through Italy, over the 
Alps, through France, he at length arrived at Calais. Though 
often prevented by the sailors, this dog, at length, was permitted . 
to come on board at Calais, by means of a gentleman who wished 
to have it, though by this time nothing but skin and bone, having 
had nothing but what he could steal or pick from the dunghills 
on the way. All the way from Calais to Dover the gentleman 
was attentive to this dog, and thought he had gained his affec¬ 
tion ; when to his surprise, a few yards before they arrived at Do¬ 
ver, the dog jumped overboard, and, sw imming ashore, ran off as 
fast as he could. The collar on his neck told to whom he be¬ 
longed ; and in less than six weeks from the time he had left 
Rome, this faithful animal arrived at his master’s house at Edin¬ 
burgh .—Travels in Scotland , by the Rev . J. Hall , vol. ii, p. 600. 
