208 Studies in Animal Behavior 



lives to its aid. It has been often noticed that if 

 one withdraws from a fox when it is feigning it may 

 be seen to slowly open its eyes, then raise its head 

 and carefully look around to see if its foes are at 

 a safe distance, and finally scamper off. 



While in insects the instinct of feigning death is 

 probably a simple reflex reaction to outer stimuli, 

 it is doubtless associated in birds and especially mam- 

 mals with a tolerably acute consciousness of the situ- 

 ation. It involves a more or less deliberate inten- 

 tion to profit by the deception, yet at the same time 

 it is probably not a result of conscious reflection. 

 The instinct is there, or else such a course of action 

 would not occur to the animal's mind. Were it 

 otherwise it would be difficult to understand why the 

 ruse is adopted only by certain species while many 

 others, equally intelligent and for whom it would 

 be an equally advantageous stratagem, never mani- 

 fest it. There can be little doubt that a fox which 

 slowly opens its eye and warily looks around is act- 

 ing with an intelligent appreciation of his predica- 

 ment, but it is not to be inferred that he could have 

 reasoned out his course of action "did not an innate 

 proclivity in that direction form a part of his in- 

 stinctive make-up. 



The physiological condition in what is called 

 death-feigning is quite different in different forms. 

 While there is a general relaxation of the muscu- 

 lature in the sham death of some of the birds and 

 mammals, the feint in most of the lower animals 



