6 JULY 1895, Page 20

ANIMAL VISION.

[To ins EDITOR OF TIER " SPECTATOR." J

Srn,--I am tempted by the letter which appears in the Spectator of June 29th, to think that others besides myself are interested in the subject of "Animal Colour-Vision," and therefore, though rather late, to send you the following particulars :—About twenty-six years ago my father, who, though already over seventy, still hunted a good deal in Northamptonshire, took up there a little horse bred by him- self, who was a great pet of mine, and much coveted by me as a hack. After one or two seasons he returned to me, but I do not think I should have got him had he not proved more excitable with hounds than, at that time, suited my father. My father has frequently told me that if he came down in the morning in a dark coat, he could at least get to the meet in peace, but if he wore a red one, Cuckoo' was always in a dance from the moment they started. My father was used to horses all his life, and a pretty good judge of what they could or could not understand. I think he looked on this instance of "knowingness "as worth telling, but not as anything very wonderful. I live a good deal with my dogs, but regret to say I have no like tales to tell of them. What does strike me very much is the very varying degrees in which individuals, even of the same breed, are guided by scent or sight re- spectively; some, though they can see quite well, seem to me hardly to look at all, while others evidently notice things at a considerable distance, and even high up in the air.—I am,