124 WOODLAND CREATURES 



the fur attached, before her. She smelt it, with 

 as little interest as before, until her nose touched 

 the fur, but the moment she brushed against the 

 fur she growled like a little fury, at the same time 

 seizing and shaking the bit of rabbit. It was the 

 first time I had heard her growl, but there was 

 no mistake about it ! The interesting part was 

 that she showed no understanding of what the 

 raw rabbit flesh was, but that when she touched 

 the soft fur it awoke the instinct to pounce upon 

 and worry a furry thing, and thereafter she appeared 

 to know all about meat. An episode of this sort 

 makes one wonder what passes in the mind of 

 a young animal when it acts instinctively. Does 

 the rousing of the inherited impulse bring with it 

 a full understanding of what is done, or does this 

 understanding only come with time and experi- 

 ence ? I expect the latter, for it is obvious to any 

 one who watches animals that though they may 

 depend on instinct in some particulars, they learn 

 from experience, and in many cases are taught 

 by the old ones. 



I did not let the cub have much meat the first 

 time for fear of upsetting her, but there were no 

 evil consequences, and henceforward flesh was 

 included in her daily ration. Milk still formed the 

 greater part, but it was now taken from a baby's 

 bottle, the fountain-pen filler having been abandoned 

 after the first few days. I must here remark, for 

 the benefit of others who may be contemplating 

 bottle-feeding a young animal, that I had great 

 difficulty in getting a teat with a hole small enough. 



