20 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OP ANIMALS. CHAP. I. 



The elephant, the horse, and more particularly the dog, 

 afford familiar illustrations of that attachment towards 

 mankind, implanted in their nature by Omnipotence,, 

 but withheld from nearly all other animals. The skill 

 and ingenuity of quadrupeds are, in many instances, very 

 great, particularly in some of the smaller kinds. The 

 jerboa, the beaver, and the harvest mouse, are both 

 architects and weavers ; and the habitation of the latter 

 ingenious little creature, according to White, is most ar- 

 tificially platted, being composed of the blades of wheat, 

 perfectly round, and with the aperture closed in the 

 nicest manner; the one he examined was "so compact 

 and well fitted, that it would roll across the table with- 

 out being discomposed, though it contained eight little 

 mice that were naked and blind."* 



(24.) The manner in which other quadrupeds pre- 

 serve, and others obtain, their food, is indicative of this 

 faculty. The fox, when possessed of a larger booty 

 than it can at once consume, never allows itself to gra- 

 tify its appetite, until it has secured the whole of its 

 prize, by placing it in different holes, which it digs for 

 the purpose, and which it endeavours to conceal by 

 placing upon them a quantity of loose earth. t Some of 

 the Glires, or mice, provide a winter store of food ; 

 but, to prevent its premature decay, the animal will 

 bring out his provisions, and spread them in the sun to 

 dry. The Alpine hare is stated to cut down quantities 

 of soft grass, and, after spreading it out for some time, 

 collect it into heaps, which are then placed beneath 

 overhanging rocks, in fissures, or under sheltering trees ; 

 and these winter magazines are visited so regularly, 

 that they may be discovered by the beaten path of the 

 animal over the snow. It has been related, but we very 

 much doubt the fact, that the jaguar of America will 

 stand in the water, out of the immediate course of the 

 stream, and drop its saliva on the surface, so that it 

 may draw the fish after it within its reach. J On the 



* White's Selborne, vol. i. p. 59, f Pen. Brit. Zoo), vol. ii. p. 510- 

 j Wood's Zool. vol. i. p. 45. 



