MARRIAGE 17 



But with a bright-eyed vixen and a quartette of cubs 

 awaiting breakfast his prescience of dawn brings reckless- 

 ness — not caution. The night is far spent, the day is at 

 hand. Food must be had ; he must do, he can but die. 



So, often in broad dayhght, sometimes running the 

 gauntlet of the farmer's very eyes, he harries a hen-roost ! 

 Brave, fearful, heroic, timid little red fox-father ! All must 

 wish him good speed — provided the hen-roost be not 

 theirs. 



It is often asserted accusingly that animals — even dogs 

 with their inheritance of added intellect — fail to recognise 

 their own offspring after a very short time. This fact, 

 however, has nothing like the weight of adverse evidence 

 which it would have against humanity, owing to the 

 early age at which animals become independent of their 

 parents. 



If the tie of mutual helpfulness and helplessness only 

 lasted for three months or so amongst us, also, it is con- 

 ceivable that it would be a weaker one than it is at present 

 when for one and twenty years parents are responsible 

 for their children's support. 



Besides, even to this rule, most animal observers can 

 adduce exceptions. 



A dachshund of mine who greatly resents the introduction 

 of any strange dog even to the back premises makes marked 

 exception to his own offspring when they have returned 

 after eighteen months' absence, and in one case he greeted 

 with absolute effusion a son towards whom he had shown a 

 most unusual attention as a puppy. No one who witnessed 

 the meeting could have failed to admit pleasurable recog- 

 nition, and this despite the fact that the young dog had, 



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