392 G. A. Rowell 07i the 



away by force from the trap, and tearing off the leg, or by 

 biting the leg off. These traps are made to clasp very 

 strongly, but, to prevent escape as far as possible, they are 

 made purposely not to close nearer than about the eighth of 

 an inch, and the teeth are rounded so as not to cut ; but 

 rabbits are so indifferent to pain that I have seen their legs 

 left in traps with the sinews attached to them, just as the 

 sinews are drawn from a fowl's legs previous to cooking, and 

 yet although the bone is so broken, and the muscles and 

 sinews torn apart in this manner, it seems to have little or 

 no effect on the health of the animal. 



I have seen them caught after having recently lost a leg, 

 and to all appearance in as good health, and as fat, as if no- 

 thing had happened to them. A short time since, I saw a 

 rabbit caught which had but one leg, having lost one hind-leg 

 apparently some time, and the two fore-legs very recently, 

 but although the poor animal had been obliged to go along 

 as it could with its one leg and the bare stumps of the others, 

 it was in good condition and healthy. 



Rats will bite off their legs in a similar way, and escape; 

 but I do not know of any animal which is strictly a beast of 

 prey, or rather a hunting animal, that will do so. I have 

 never known a cat, polecat, or such animals do it, although 

 they may sometimes lose a leg in a common trap which shuts 

 close and is apt to cut ; and I have lately known a fox found 

 in a wood in a dying state, from starvation, with a trap on 

 its lea:, an incumbrance that a rabbit would have been free 

 from in a very short time. 



These facts, will, I believe, bear me out on the point, that 

 the sense of pain is for the preservation of animals, by com- 

 pelling them to take due care of themselves, and that no ani- 

 mal has a greater share of the sense of pain than is neces- 

 sary for the preservation of the class to which it belongs. 

 The loss of a leg must be a great inconvenience to any quad- 

 ruped, but rabbits or rats may still procure food without it ; 

 even the case before alluded to of the hyena, does not tell 

 against it, as the hyena does not get its food by swiftness of 

 foot alone, nor is its foot the weapon of attack, as with the 

 cat tribe ; but if a fox, wild-cat, polecat, or any animal of 



