2o8 HEAD AND NECK. 



mountainous districts ; the latter, of more or less high 

 plateaux. 



The ability to find out the direction from which dis- 

 tant sounds come, is largely dependent on the power of 

 rotating the ears to the front, externally, and to the 

 rear. As the higher animals have an ear on each side 

 of the head, there is no need for them to be able to 

 rotate their ears inwards. During the course of evolu- 

 tion, mankind has almost entirely lost the power of 

 rotating the ears, and consequently we are not able to 

 tell the direction of distant sounds with anything like 

 the same accuracy as horses, which have great ear-play. 

 As flight (running away) is the horse's chief natural means 

 of self-protection, he has great ability in turning his 

 ears to the rear, and also in looking to the rear, with- 

 out altering the forward position of his head. In a 

 pitched battle with carnivorous enemies, wild horses 

 employ their eyes and ears, as a rule, in a backward 

 direction, while using their hind feet as weapons of 

 assault. x\nd even when making a forward rush at an 

 enemy, they almost always "put back" their ears. The 

 fact of a horse looking backwards is at once made mani- 

 fest by his " showing the white of his eyes." These 

 actions of ears and eyes are so closely connected, in the 

 horse, with fear and anger, that he often performs them, 

 without any direct incentive, when influenced by these 

 feelings. Hence all experienced horsemen regard an un- 

 provoked putting-back of the ears and showing the white 

 of the eyes, as a reliable warning to " look out." 



In common, probably, with most observers, I have 

 remarked that animals which move their ears in a quick, 

 decisive manner, evidently with the same intent as they 

 use their eyes to see what kind of ground they are going 

 over, are, generally, of the " clever " sort which do not 

 know how " to put a foot wrong," and have always a 

 "spare leg." Their method of employing their ears is 

 quite different to the restless, " listening " (if I may use 



