CHAPTER V 



INSTINCT AND FOXES 



Instinct is a ruling faculty possessed by animals of 

 every description : it exists, in a modified degree, even 

 in the lowest. The powers of reasoning with which the 

 human race is gifted derive their origin from instinct, 

 cultivated by the aid of speech and literature. By 

 comparing and communicating the consequences of past 

 events we are enabled to form certain conclusions of 

 what may be likely to result from similar occurrences. 

 This faculty, nevertheless, is limited ; for we cannot 

 either foresee or control the events of an hour. Hunger 

 prompts a man to eat, and a similar impulse induces 

 animals to do so likewise. The civilised classes of the 

 human race make provision for future wants ; but very 

 few animals follow that example : most of them 

 depend on the bounteous hand of Providence for their 

 supplies. The squirrel is said to lay up a store for the 

 winter season, in order that he may crack his nuts at 

 leisure; and it is instinct that teaches him to do so. 

 The fox, in some measure, partakes of this forethought 

 b}" concealing a part of his food when he accidentally 

 procures more than he requires for present purposes. 

 But it is for his own security and the preservation of 

 life that instinct is most conspicuous in this animal, 

 and with which, on many occasions, recollection of 

 past events is associated. This knowledge may then 

 be termed the result of experience, and it is that which 

 enables some crafty old specimens of the vulpine family 

 so frequently to elude the huntsman's skill. All living 



