Observations on Young Mammals. 109 



Mr. Drane observed * that a tame hare persistently tried 

 :o burrow in his bed. The carriage and movements of the 

 ;ail in the dog and the cat, each after its kind, exemplify 

 \ 3ongenital tendencies ; and the socially dependent nature 

 I }f the dog, as compared with the self-sufficiency of the cat, 

 ; is early seen. In the kitten the arching of the back, the 

 characteristic response which we interpret as the accom- 

 j paniment of fear or anger opened mouth, guttural hissing, 

 ! and a final spit are undoubtedly congenital traits ; as 

 ire also the licking of the fur (paw, sixteenth day ; neck 

 and chest, twenty-second day, in Dr. Mills's kitten), the 

 washing of the face (twenty-ninth day), and the stretching 

 after the manner of an old cat (thirty-first day). Con- 

 1 genital but deferred is the purring of the cat (fifty-fourth 

 lay); congenital, too, would seem to be the tendency in 

 ihe kitten, much more markedly than in the puppy, to 

 crouch and stalk a moving object of small size, the re- 

 sponse being, it would seem, evoked by any such moving 

 object. I could detect no difference in the reaction to a 

 clockwork mouse and the real animal. Still, I have no 

 loubt that the smell of a real mouse is not without its 

 effect. Dr. Mills's observation, in fact, show this to be 

 50. So, too, the smell of game will set a game-dog on the 

 ml vlve. When I am incubating pheasants' or partridges' 

 i.'ggs, my fox-terrior takes an olfactory interest in the 

 Irawer which he does not show to the same degree with 

 iens' eggs or those of ducks. This is still more the case 

 vith the young birds. Such difference of behaviour is, 

 10 doubt, partly due to association and experience ; but 

 n greater degree, it is generally believed, to what is given 

 hrough inheritance. 



Starting at very different levels of physical development, 



* Trans. Cardiff Naturalists Society, vol. xxvii. part ii., 1801-95. 



