THE RECOGNITION OF LIKENESSES BY ANIMALS. [To THE EDITOR OF
THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—You were so good as to insert my little account of the politeness of a parrot in the Spectator, will you now allow me also to bear witness to the recognition of a like- ness by a dog ? Some time ago I was painting two portraits in the country, and one day by chance, I placed the picture of my hostess on the ground. Immediately her old spaniel came and gazed intently at the face for several seconds. Then he smelt at the canvas and, unsatisfied, walked round and inves- tigated the back. Finally, having discovered the deception, he turned away in manifest disgust, and nothing that we could do or say, on that day or on any other, would induce that dog to look at that picture again. We then tried him by putting my portrait of his master also on the ground, but he simply gave it a kind of casual contemptuous side-glance and took no further notice of it. We attributed this not to any difference in the merits or demerits of the two portraits, but simply to the fact that the dog felt he had been deceived once, but was not to be so taken in again.—I am, Sir, &c.,
LOUISA STARR C ANZIANI.
3 Kensington Palace Green, W., May 26th.
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