Mesmeric Power in Animals 353 



often than not, this warning has been my first intimation of 

 the approach of their enemy ; and it is attended to, instantly, 

 by all the company, save, perhaps, one wretched bird, that 

 seems glued to its perch by fear, and remains behind to fall 

 an easy prey. That it is well aware of the meaning of the 

 warning, and of the rapidly approaching shadow, is quite 

 evident from its attitude, yet it seems unable to exert a 

 muscle to follow its companions into safety. There may 

 be one weak flutter before it is actually clutched, and a 

 feeble note of despair is often uttered, but no serious 

 attempt at escape is made, and the end is a foregone con- 

 clusion, so far as the victim is concerned, unless some 

 external influence breaks the spell under which it is held. 

 Frighten it, however, or turn the hawk but momentarily 

 from its course, and it will make as good a shift as the rest 

 for its life, its only difficulty appearing to lie in the 

 inability to start into action. Why is this ? It can hardly 

 be that the victim is foredoomed to destruction, since, once 

 on the wing, it evinces no more fear than its neighbours, 

 and will lead the hawk as long a chase ; and it is difficult to 

 believe that, at the distance from which the attack often 

 begins, the hawk's eye has singled it out from the flock, 

 and is able to communicate the information through the 

 intervening space. That the vision of many of the lower 

 animals differs greatly from our own, in the power to 

 concentrate, and even to distinguish certain objects invisible 

 to us, cannot for a moment be doubted ; but yet we experi- 

 ence a difficulty in imagining that eye can meet eye, maybe 

 fifty or a hundred yards away, and be fascinated by the gaze 

 to the exclusion of all other considerations. Something of 

 the same power is exercised by the cat over a mouse which 

 she is watching, or by the snake over its intended prey, 

 and it is akin to the fear which paralyses the hare, or rabbit, 

 when pursued by a stoat, but it is exceedingly difficult of 

 comprehension. I have seen a Hare followed by a Stoat, 

 and unable to exert itself beyond a mere half-hearted 

 canter, suddenly throw off its lethargy, and flee from a 

 dog that intervened, as if it had been freshly started from 

 its seat. So well did it then bring its powers to run, and 



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