er, she indulges in a variety of coquettish antics. Her attitudes when
thus excited are very picturesque, and the beauty of the animal is never
exhibited to greater advantage.

A lively grace animates her whole frame; and she is now the creature a
painter should study, or a poet describe. She will not immediately accept
the male, whose passion she evidently practises all her arts to excite.
For a few days, perhaps, a romping courtship may go forward before union
is actually permitted.

Dog fanciers almost universally attach importance to the appearance of the
discharge. Some say the dog should not be offered before the bleeding
begins to diminish. If these rules are not attended to, I have been most
confidently assured the evil consequences of the neglect are certain to be
present in the pups. The litter prematurely begotten, it is foretold, must
be bad in some way; though why this should be the case, or how the cause
produces such effects, none of the dog fanciers have been able to explain.

As by attempting to obey these injunctions I have known many
disappointments to be produced, there was every inducement, even had I not
been inquisitive from professional motives, to set me testing the truth of
these assertions; for I am not inclined to sneer at every opinion
announced by persons devoid of education. A power to observe is by no
means regulated by an ability to read or write; and as the dog fanciers
bred much more largely than I possibly could do, their experience entitled
their opinions to attention. Nevertheless, ignorance is so exposed to
misconception, that its declarations at all times should be examined, and
I resolved to test the truth of the rule which so many announced to be
established.

The result has not confirmed the belief generally entertained; but it has
induced me to conclude that the dog may be allowed whenever the bitch will
permit him. Nature, I have found, regulates the matter, so as not to
necessitate man's supervision. The bitch will, by her instinct, decide the
question; and she may, without any dread of mysterious consequences, be
left to its direction. In support of this conclusion, a large number of
animals can readily be adduced. The numerous bitches, especially in the
country, that are placed under no restraint, but are left free to gratify
their impulses, afford obvious demonstration of the fact. These creatures
have litters that are much stronger and healthier than those which are
m