CANINE MORALS AND MANNERS. 183 



pation of pleasurable excitement combined with muscular activ- 

 ity, is when the presence of game is first detected. As we have 

 seen in watching the behavior in a pack of fox-hounds, this is 

 invariably the time when tails are wagged for the common good. 

 The wagging is an almost invariable accompaniment of this form 

 of pleasure, which is one of the chiefest among the agreeable 

 emotions when in the wild state. Owing to some inosculation of 

 the nervous mechanism, which at present we can not unravel, the 

 association of pleasure and wagging has become so inseparable 

 that the movement of the tail follows the emotion, whatever may 

 call it forth. 



An explanation of a .similar kind can be found for the fact 

 that dogs depress their tails when threatened or scolded. When 

 running away the tail would be the part nearest the pursuer, and 

 therefore most likely to be seized. It was therefore securely 

 tucked away between the hind legs. The act of running away is 

 naturally closely associated with the emotion of fear, and there- 

 fore this gesture of putting the tail between the legs becomes an 

 invariable concomitant of retreat or submission in the presence 

 of superior force. When a puppy taken out for an airing curves 

 its tail downward and scuds in circles and half-circles at fullest 

 speed around its master, it is apparently trying to provoke its 

 pseudo-cynic playfellow to pursue it in mock combat. It may 

 be observed that this running in sharp curves, with frequent 

 change of direction, is a common ruse with animals which are 

 pursued by larger enemies. The reason of it is thatthe centrif- 

 ugal impulse acts more powerfully on the animal of larger bulk, 

 and so gives the smaller an advantage. 



Several years ago there was a good deal of discussion of the 

 distinctive peculiarity of the pointer and setter, in The Field and 

 other papers. It was suggested that the habit of standing still as 

 soon as game was scented, instead of springing forward at once 

 to seize it, was an instance of the manner in which a natural in- 

 stinct might be absolutely reversed by training. One of the 

 explanations attempted at the time for this apparent anomaly 

 was, that the immovable position of the dog was comparable to 

 the pause which most beasts of prey make before a final spring. 

 But we must recollect, when considering this theory, that few of 

 the CanidcB pounce from an ambush suddenly upon their prey 

 after the manner of cats. And although a terrier will stand im- 

 movable before a rat-hole for hours together, his patient, watch- 

 ful attitude is very different from the rigid and strained position 

 of the pointer or setter ; which position also has nothing in it 

 suggestive of crouching, preparatory to a rapid bound forward, 

 as is seen when a cat stalks a bird, and then gathers herself to- 

 gether before the final coup. 



