PUGNACIOUS PROPRIETORSHIP 89 



it, and looking up to me with one eye in the most 

 insinuating manner. It has never yet been driven 

 away from me by an old robin, as so often happens ; 

 but I have seen it listen and then fly away on 

 hearing one in the distance. 



December 1, 1884. 



Is it quite as certain as Mr. Romanes appears 

 to think, that the bark of the dog, and its talent 

 for watching and caretaking, are derived from 

 human companionship ? I think he would doubt 

 it if he could see the very pugnacious robin that 

 now sits almost continually on the edge of my 

 verandah (after having fed moderately from my 

 plate), watching for the other birds, and flying at 

 them when they come near the food. Its action 

 is wonderfully dog-like as it stands there with its 

 head down, flapping its wings and making little 

 half-leaps which are accompanied by short sharp 

 notes that have all the characters of a bark, and 

 appear to have the same cause and the same effect. 

 For my part I think it is the other way, and that 

 it is part of our animal and not of our distinctively 

 human nature, that snaps and barks, and watches 

 over its property and seeks to get everything for 

 itself. I never saw so pugnacious a robin as this 

 is ; he drives away even the stout old chaffinch 

 that has been ' cock of the walk ' for years. He is 

 down on the other birds so suddenly that they 



