124 WHITE 



has waited on it for more than thirty years, it hobbles towards 

 its benefactress with awkward alacrity ; but remains inatten- 

 tive to strangers. Thus not only "the ox knoweth his owner, 

 and the ass his master's crib," 1 but the most abject reptile and 

 torpid of beings distinguishes the hand that feeds it, and is 

 touched with the feelings of gratitude ! 



I am, etc., etc. 



P.S. In about three days after I left Sussex the tortoise 

 retired into the ground under the hepatica. 



NOTE 

 Msa. i. 3. G. W. 



LETTER XIV 



SELBORNE, March 26th, 1773. 



DEAR SIR, The more I reflect on the o-ropyij of animals, the 

 more I am astonished at its effects. Nor is the violence of this 

 affection more wonderful than the shortness of its duration. 

 Thus every hen is in her turn the virago of the yard, in pro- 

 portion to the helplessness of her brood ; and will fly in the face 

 of a dog or a sow in defence of those chickens which in a few 

 weeks she will drive before her with relentless cruelty. 



This affection sublimes the passions, quickens the invention, 

 and sharpens the sagacity of the brute creation. Thus a hen, 

 just become a mother, is no longer that placid bird she used 

 to be, but with feathers standing on end, wings hovering, and 

 clocking note, she runs about like one possessed. Dams will 

 throw themselves in the way of the greatest danger in order 

 to avert it from their progeny. Thus a partridge will tumble 

 along before a sportsman in order to draw away the dogs from 

 her helpless covey. In the time of nidification the most feeble 

 birds will assault the most rapacious. All the hirundines of a 

 village are up in arms at the sight of a hawk, whom they will 

 persecute till he leaves that district. A very exact observer 

 has often remarked that a pair of ravens nesting in the rock 

 of Gibraltar would suffer no vulture or eagle to rest near their 



