. The expression of the emotions in man and animals . mselves, and partly to get ready for their rush; andthis habit in an exaggerated form has become here-ditary in our pointers and setters. Now I havenoticed scores of times that when two strange dogsmeet on an open road, the one which first sees theother, though at the distance of one or two hundredyards, after the first glance always lowers its head,generally crouches a little, or even lies down; that is,he takes the proper attitude for concealing himself andfor making a rush or spring, although the road is quiteopen and the distance great.
. The expression of the emotions in man and animals . mselves, and partly to get ready for their rush; andthis habit in an exaggerated form has become here-ditary in our pointers and setters. Now I havenoticed scores of times that when two strange dogsmeet on an open road, the one which first sees theother, though at the distance of one or two hundredyards, after the first glance always lowers its head,generally crouches a little, or even lies down; that is,he takes the proper attitude for concealing himself andfor making a rush or spring, although the road is quiteopen and the distance great. Again, dogs of all kindswhen intently watching and slowly approaching theirprey, frequently keep oneof their fore-legs doubledup for a long time, readyfor the next cautious step;and this is eminently cha-racteristic of the from habit they be-have in exactly the samemanner whenever theirattention is aroused (). I have seen a dogat the foot of a high wall, listening attentively to asound on the opposite side, with one leg doubled up;. Fig. 4. Small dog watching a cat on atable. From a photograph taken by 44 THE PEINCIPLE OP Chap. I. and in this case there could have been no intention ofmaking a cautious approach. Dogs after voiding their excrement often make withall four feet a few scratches backwards, even on a barestone pavement, as if for the purpose of covering uptheir excrement with earth, in nearly the same manneras do cats. Wolves and jackals behave in the Zoo-logical Gardens in exactly the same manner, yet, as Iam assured by the keepers, neither wolves, jackals, norfoxes, when they have the means of doing so, ever coverup their excrement, any more than do dogs. All theseanimals, however, bury superfluous food. Hence, if werightly understand the meaning of the above cat-likehabit, of which there can be little doubt, we have apurposeless remnant of an habitual movement, whichwas originally followed by some remote progenitor ofthe dog-genus fo
Size: 1850px × 1351px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectemotions, bookyear187
