112 MEANS OF EXPRESSION Chap. IV. 



Every one recognizes the vicious appearance which the 

 drawing back of the ears gives to a horse. This move- 

 ment is very different from that of listening to a sound 

 behind. If an ill-tempered horse in a stall is inclined 

 to kick backwards, his ears are retracted from habit, 

 though he has no intention or power to bite. But when 

 a horse throws up both hjnd-legs in play, as when enter- 

 ing an open field, or when just touched by the whip, he 

 does not generally depress his ears, for he does not then 

 feel vicious. Guanacoes fight savagely with their teeth; 

 and they must do so frequently, for I found the hides 

 of several which I shot in Patagonia deeply scored. So 

 do camels; and both these animals, when savage, draw 

 their ears closely backwards. Guanacoes, as I have no- 

 ticed, when not intending to bite, but merely to spit their 

 offensive saliva from a distance at an intruder, retract 

 their ears. Even the hippopotamus, when threatening 

 with its widely-open enormous mouth a comrade, draws 

 back its small ears, just like a horse. 



Now what a contrast is presented between the fore- 

 going animals and cattle, sheep, or goats, which never 

 use their teeth in fighting, and never draw back their 

 ears when enraged! Although sheep and goats appear 

 such placid animals, the males often join in furious con- 

 tests. As deer form a closely related family, and as I 

 did not know that they ever fought with their teeth, I 

 was much surprised at the account given by Major Koss 

 King of the Moose-deer in Canada. He says, when 

 " two males chance to meet, laying back their ears and 

 gnashing their teeth together, they rush at each other 

 with appalling fury." 33 But Mr. Bartlett informs me 

 that some species of deer fight savagely with their teeth, 



33 ' The Sportsman and Naturalist in Canada,' 1866, p. 53. 

 p. 53. 



