PRESENTS BY ANIMALS.
[TO TIM EDITOR OF TIER " SPECTATOR:9
SIE,—Some months ago I read in the Spectator that anineels rarely, if ever, make presents to one another. They do some- times, however, and I have recently seen a very pretty instance. Last week I rode over to see a, friend half-a-dozen miles away, and my two collies, Senta ' and Tom,' mother and son, accompanied me. While waiting for luncheon, my host and hostess and I sat on the veranda, and the dogs lay on the lawn in front of the steps. To them entered a shambling, awkward setter puppy about eight months old, and, finding company present, set himself out to be agreeable to his guests by all sorts of uncouth gambols and invitations to play. But 'Tom' and his mother, either disdaining so callow a playmate, or feeling the restraint of their nnencustomed surroundings, coldly repulsed his advances, and when he became too pressing simply got up and moved away a yard or two. This seemed to nonplus the puppy, and after regarding them for a while in an apparently pained manner, he turned and trotted off to a patch of forest (we call it "bush" here) about a hundred yards away, presently returning with the bones of a calf's leg, complete from hoof to hip-joint, and still bound together by its dried ligaments. It gave him some trouble to get this through the bars of the gate, but he soon solved the puzzle rather cleverly by getting through himself and then reaching back and taking the end. This precious offering— an heirloom, I should say, from its appearance—he laid in front of • Setae,' his every joint exhibiting extreme friendli- ness, and finding she only averted her head, he took it to Tom." Tom's head followed suit, but I saw one furtive eye on the bone, and told him to take it, which he did, to the puppy's exuberant delight. Next moment they -were all three gnawing at it, and, the ice thus broken, a wild game of play followed.
Before I end I mud tell you one more little anecdote. 'Tom' is only a little more than a year old, but has developed a fair amount of intelligence for his age. He is my constant companion, and the faithful guard of my eoat when I take it off to work. One day-last March I was anxious to finish some work—drilling-in a field of grass—and stayed out much Islet' than usual. When sunset came 'Tom' made several trips across from my coat to me to see if I were not coming home, and at last, as darkness grew imminent, laboriously dragged the garment to me as a final am, Sir, &c., Mauku, New Zealand.
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