Chap. V. RUMINANTS. 120 



The actions of a horse when much startled are highly- 

 expressive. One day my horse was much frightened 

 at a drilling machine, covered by a tarpaulin, and lying 

 on an open field. He raised his head so high, that his 

 neck became almost perpendicular; and this he did from 

 habit, for the machine lay on a slope below, and could 

 not have been seen with more distinctness through the 

 raising of the head; nor if any sound had proceeded 

 from it, could the sound have been more distinctly heard. 

 His eyes and ears were directed intently forwards; and I 

 could feel through the saddle the palpitations of his 

 heart. With red dilated nostrils he snorted violently, 

 and whirling round, would have dashed off at full speed, 

 had I not prevented him. The distension of the nostrils 

 is not for the sake of scenting the source of danger, for 

 when a horse smells carefully at any object and is not 

 alarmed, he does not dilate his nostrils. Owing to the 

 presence of a valve in the throat, a horse when panting 

 does not breathe through his open mouth, but through 

 his nostrils; and these consequently have become en- 

 dowed with great powers of expansion. This expansion 

 of the nostrils, as well as the snorting, and the palpita- 

 tions of the heart, are actions which have become firmly 

 associated during a long series of generations with the 

 emotion of terror; for terror has habitually led the horse 

 to the most violent exertion in dashing away at full speed 

 from the cause of danger. 



Ruminants. — Cattle and sheep are remarkable from 

 displaying in so slight a degree their emotions or sen- 

 sations, excepting that of extreme pain. A bull when 

 enraged exhibits his rage only by the manner in which 

 he holds his lowered head, with distended nostrils, and 

 by bellowing. He also often paws the ground; but 

 this pawing seems quite different from that of an im- 



