The Wit of the Wild 



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approach them cautiously, uncertain whether 

 there were not some trick of play or hostile ruse 

 in the immobility, until they could smell the cold 

 form, then would turn away with an expression 

 of wonder and disgust, but no further interest. 

 Hunting animals have learned that in order to 

 feed upon their prey they must reduce it to 

 complete disability: it is the submission not 

 the death of the creature which they seek when 

 they strike. Such was the idea in the minds of 

 the retrievers, made much of by Romanes, which 

 kill one of two wounded ducks when they 

 find it impracticable to retrieve both birds alive, 

 as they are expected to do. The dog uses its 

 natural dog sense in completing the disablement 

 of an unmanageable thing, in order to accom- 

 plish that part of its mission which it feels of 

 the highest importance, viz. : To get the game 

 ashore, somehow. The retriever does not seek 

 the death of the duck, per se, but merely its 

 instantaneous acquiescence in his plan. 



How could a dog or any other brute creature 

 know of death apart from its outward aspects 

 of disability and subsequent dissolution ? What 



