Observations on Young Mammals. 115 



the teats ; but many would fail to find them in good 

 time, were it not that sows, bitches, and cats push the 

 young with their noses (or even, in the case of the two 

 latter species, with their paws) towards or into the warm 

 area, when they get outside it. Further, I have seen 

 both bitches and cats get up and again lie down so as 

 to bring the teats into closer proximity to the mouth 

 of any young which failed to find them. It has been 

 noticed by a man who is a remarkably good observer 

 and has had much to do with animals, and also by 

 myself, that when a lamb is weakly and fails to find 

 the teat, the mother not infrequently uses its shoulders, 

 head, and neck as a lever to place the lamb on its 

 legs; and, having accomplished this, straddles over the 

 lamb, and brings the teats against its lips; and these 

 efforts are continued until the little animal sucks." 



Of the pampas sheep Mr. Hudson says, "When 

 born the lamb's first impulse is to struggle up on to its 

 feet ; its second to suck, but here it does not discriminate 

 like the newly hatched bird that picks up its proper food " 

 — a conclusion, by the way, from which my own observations 

 lead me to dissent — " for it does not know what to suck. 

 It will take into its mouth whatever comes near, in most 

 cases a tuft of wool on its dam's neck, and at this it will 

 continue sucking for an indefinite time. It is highly 

 probable," Mr. Hudson says, "that the strong- smelling 

 secretion of the sheep's udder attracts the lamb at length 

 to that part ; and that without something of the kind to 

 guide it, in many cases it would actually starve without 

 finding the teats." 



Mr. Mann Jones, in the letter from which I have quoted, 

 says, " A lady, who observed closely, assured me that in 

 some breeds of pigs the young so often fail to find the teat 

 by their own unassisted efforts, that many would probably 



