. The expression of the emotions in man and animals. ome 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 k
. The expression of the emotions in man and animals. ome 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 their Fig. 4. smaii dog watching a cat on aattention is aroused (fis*. ^^^^- ^^^ ^ photogiaph takeu by mt. J Rejlauder. 4). i have seen a dog at the foot of a high wall, listening attentively to a sound on the opposite side, with one leg douTbled up;. 44 THE PEINCIPLE OF 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 for a definite purpose, and which hasbeen retained for a prodigious length of time. Dogs
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