[To THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR. "] Sin, — The extremely interesting articles
on " Orpheus at the Zoo," which have lately appeared in the Spectator, have suggested to me that possibly you might care for an anecdote which goes to prove that horses can distinguish tunes.
A relation of mine, who has spent many years in India, remembers well how, when living in Lucknow, and enjoying the evening drive, with other English residents in the Indian city, the carriage-horses would toss their heads and paw the ground impatiently when the first notes of " God Save the Queen " were played by the military band every evening. It was the last tune played, the signal for dispersion. A sceptic—or perhaps more than one—having insisted that the horses only knew the tune because it was always played last, and they were able to calculate time, the experiment was tried of playing "God Save the Queen" in
the middle, instead of at the end of the evening. Instantly there was the same excitement in the horses standing round " the course," the sk me impatient tossing of the head and prancing of the feet, the same general stampede and eagerness to start homeward. No one could any longer doubt that they knew and recognised the air; in fact, that they could tell one tune from another.—I am, Sir, &c., F. S. H.
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