[Notwithstanding our author's condemnation of this practice, there are many sportsmen who think it very necessary to remove this supernumerary toe, fearing that it may interfere with the dog while hunting, as above stated. Mr. Blain, both a practical sportsman and scientific gentleman, to whose opinions we must at all times show a due regard, considers the removal of these false appendages very necessary, stating that they often become troublesome, not only in the field, but that they frequently turn in and wound the flesh with their nails. We have never seen any particular inconvenience arising from the presence of these dew-claws, and are not in the habit of taking them off; but, as the operation is a trifling one, and attended with little or no pain, we are disposed to recommend its general adoption, as it improves the appearance of the legs; and their presence may sometimes prove inconvenient to the animal, as stated by Mr. Blain. These claws most commonly have a ligamentous attachment only to the leg, which may be divided, a few days after birth, by a pair of sharp scissors or a knife; and if a bony union exists, it is generally of such a trifling nature that it can be severed in the same way.--L.] The cruelties that are perpetrated on puppies during the course of their education or 'breaking-in', are sometimes infamous. Young dogs, like young people, must be to a certain degree coerced; but these animals receive from nature so great an aptitude for learning, and practising that which we require of them, and their own pleasure is so much connected with what they learn, that there is no occasion for one-tenth part of the correction that is occasionally inflicted; and the frequent consequence of the cruelty to which they are subjected, is cowardice or ferocity during life. Not many years ago, as the author was going over one of the commons in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, now enclosed, he heard the loud sounds of the lash and the screams of a dog. He hurried on, and found two men, one holding a greyhound while another was unmercifully flogging him. He had inflicted many lashes, and was continuing the correction. The author indignantly interfered, and the dog was liberated, but with a great deal of abuse from the men; and a gentleman galloping up, and who was the owner of the dog, and a Middlesex magistrate to boot, seemed disposed to support his people in no very measured terms On being addressed, however, by name, and recognising the speaker, and his attention being directed to the 'whaled' and even bloody state of the dog, he offered the best excuse that he could. We met again some months afterwards. "That hiding," said he, "that offended you so much did Carlo good, for he has not been touched since." "No," was the reply; "you were a little ashamed of your fellows, and have altered your system, and find that your dogs do not want this unmerciful negro-whipping."