e carelessly buckled on, and
one day it came off, and the man stooped to put it in its place; Flora,
however, was too quick for him, she took it up in her mouth, plunged
with it into a neighbouring pond, and when she reached the deepest part,
dropped the muzzle into it, and swam back, with her countenance
expressing delight.

All dogs enjoy the sport to which they are bred, and M. Blase tells us,
that he was once shooting near Versailles, when his friend, M.
Guilleman, accompanied him, with permission to kill wild ducks on the
preserve. There was but one dog between them, but at the first shot, a
fine spaniel ran up to them at full speed. He plunged into the water,
and caressing M. Guilleman, seemed to say--"Here I am at your service;
amuse me, and I will amuse you." The gentlemen pursued their sport all
day, and the dog proved excellent. No one appeared to own him; but the
sport over, off he set at full gallop, and they saw him no more. They
spoke of him to the keeper of the water, who informed them, that the dog
belonged to a sportsman living two leagues distant, who was at that time
laid up with the gout. "The dog knows," added the keeper, "that persons
come to shoot here every Sunday; and on that day, regularly makes his
appearance. Having done his duty for the first sportsman whom he meets,
he returns to his master."

Mr. Martin, in his clever little treatise on dogs, vouches for the truth
of the following story:--"One morning, as a lady was lacing her boots,
one of the laces broke. She playfully said to her pet spaniel who was
standing by her, 'I wish you would find me another boot lace,' but
having managed to use that which was broken, she thought no more about
it. On the following morning, when she was again lacing her boots, the
dog ran up to her with a new silken boot-lace in his mouth. This created
general amazement; for where the dog had obtained it no one could tell.
There was no doubt, however, that he had purloined it from some one
else."

A black and white spaniel, belonging to a friend of mine, seemed to
understand everything said to him, and if his master whispered in his
ear, "Find something for your master," every loose article which he
could carry was sure to be laid at his master's feet, and frequently the
ladies of the family were obliged to lock their work-boxes, to prevent
their contents from being carried off by Dash. If one glove were
missing, and the other were shown to him, he did not res