34 'Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology. 



2. Fear. 



In the case of any object threatening or frightening a ring-dove, 

 the bird being, for one reason or another, disinclined to turn tail and 

 flee, it exhibits attitudes and movements of terror and anger which 

 we may call, for the sake of brevity, the expression of fear. The 

 reasons why the bird may be disinclined to turn tail are numerous : 

 it may be young and unable to fly ; sick or wounded and hence unable 

 to effect a speedy retreat ; it may be defending its nest or its mate ; 

 or it may be simply quarreling with a neighbor on equal temis. In 

 all such cases the dove shows the expression of fear, which is now t.j 

 be described; these cases are to be distinguished from those in which 

 the dove uses its energies merely to escape and fly away, for then it 

 shows a very different expression which we call alarm and which 

 will be described later. 



The expression of fear in the ring-dove is not at all peculiar to 

 the species ; it is essentially the same as the expression of fear in all 

 birds, and very similar to the expression of fear in reptiles and mam- 

 mals. It consists chiefly in the erection of appendages — bristling 

 the feathers, spreading the tail, lifting the wings — and in the emission 

 of threatening sounds. It should be noticed that in the expression 

 of this emotion all the feathers are raised to the utmost degree ; in 

 sudden fright the tail also is wudely spread. The wing nearest to 

 the feared object is raised and is used to strike with, dealing blows 

 of great power and of such swiftness that, if a man allows his hand 

 to be struck at, the hand feels the blow before the eye can see it. In 

 some cases the near wing alone is raised, but in many cases the two 

 wings are raised symmetrically. The head is drawn in close to the 

 body, but is always turned toward the object of fear., ready to deal 

 blows with the beak. The eye assumes a ferocious glare, utterly 

 different from its ordinary mild look. This great change in the eye 

 is caused largely by the following conditions. The eyelids are drawn 

 back so as to open the eye to the widest limit ; such wide-openness 

 gives a staring appearance to the eye of any creature, and gives to 

 the eye of the dove an especial glare, by exposing the maximum of 

 the fiery red iris. The black pupil of the eye also remains large, 

 not contracting to a pin-point as in the case of some of the other emo- 



