SQUIRRELS 7l 



writings of others instances of feigning in monkeys 

 which place it beyond doubt that animals may con- 

 sciously and deliberately feign; yet he regards the 

 matter as one of great difficulty. Unquestionably it 

 is, but I must again express my conviction that 

 Eomanes has imported into the subject difficulties 

 which are not in the nature of the case present. 

 First of all, is it at all essential to " feigning " either 

 death or injury that an animal should have, as 

 Eomanes supposes, the abstract idea of death at all ? 

 It is to be remembered that in these cases the animal 

 simply remains as quiet and as passive as possible, 

 which is in accord with all an animal's experiences 

 as to escape from danger by any form of concealment. 

 We have all degrees of this. The little Chipmunk, 

 when a hawk is at hand, squats, if on a fence ; if near 

 its burrow, rushes in, according to Dr Abbott (loc. cit.). 

 It is within the observation of all, that a cat watching 

 near a rat-hole feigns quiet; in like manner a dog, 

 desirous of capturing the fly that has been tormenting 

 him, feigns apparent unobservance or unusual in- 

 activity. I suspect that a human being, suddenly 

 finding himself in danger, may, and often does, exercise 

 a similar control without any abstract notion of death. 

 Indeed, the extent to which the abstract in this sense 

 enters into the psychic life of men, if we except the 

 higher class of intellects and persons well educated, 

 is much less than writers have been wont to believe. 

 A great part of the whole difficulty, it seems to me, 

 has arisen from the use of the expression "feigning 

 death." What is assumed is inactivity and passivity, 

 more or less complete. This, of course, bears a certain 

 degree of resemblance to death itself. 



Keturning, then, to the case of my feigning Eed 

 Squirrels, I should be inclined to explain their be- 

 haviour somewhat as follows : 



