26 SEPTEMBER 1908, Page 16

THE DOG AS ALTRUIST.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

3ia,—At a farmhouse at which we have been staying a terrier, • Rough,' shares always his master's first breakfast,—the bread-and-cream accompanying a cup of tea. Three corners he breaks off and gives to Rough,' who eats the first two. Off the third he licks the cream, then carries the crust to a hen who each morning comes across the field where the fowls are kept, and at the gate awaits her friend's arrival. Should others of the hens appear Rough' "barks them off" while his favourite devours her portion.—I am, Sir, &c.,