6 APRIL 1878, Page 23

The Moor and the Loch. By John Colquhonn. 2 vols.

(Murray.)—This edition, published after an interval of nearly 30 years, is so much enlarged that it may almost be called a now book. Mr. Colquhoun has, indeed, incorporated with it what seemed to him the most interesting or valu- able passages of his other books. The result is a very complete work indeed on Highland sport. The general reader will find much that will interest him, for the author has observed shrewdly and kindly human life, as well as the life of animals. And to the sportsman, the "minute instructions " which the title-page promises, and the book does not fail to furnish, will bo very useful. No one learns any sport from instruc- tions, however minute or lucid, but those who have already mastered the rudiments may improve themselves vastly by attending to judicious instruction. Our own interest has boon roused especially by what• Mr. Colquhoun has to say about dogs. This, it need hardly be said, is very well worth reading, and is a distinct contribution of no little value to the natural history of the animal. Very likely he will think it a little sen- timental, but wo must say that he seems to us hardly to take an ade- quate view of man's duty to the dog, however just and complete his notions about the converse rotation. Nor do we think that ho makes out his contention that all the dog's intelligence is instinct, not reason. The choice of alternatives which wo so often observe in the dog is often of a kind that seems to demand reason. Nor can we accept the dictum that "the brute has no conscience." The very curious story that ap- peared in this journal about the terrier that stole his master's chop, and repented of his misdeed, looks very like conscience. Mr. Colquhoun does not, indeed, take into account any stories except those that have come under his own observation. This is a limitation which cannot be allowed. It would not be admitted in any other subject-matter.