190 OBSERVATIONS ON RABBITS EATING THEIR YOUNG. 



tion, to drink freely of cold water ; and, when I have 

 taken this precaution, no such propensity ever evinced 

 itself in the least ; and that cold water is in no way 

 injurious, and the animal appears wonderfully grati- 

 fied by it. 



" The preceding remarks go to prove, that the 

 propensity is, in fact, one which has necessity for its 

 origin ; and that of the most imperious nature. 

 Hence, it is recommended to all who may have 

 suffered from this cause, to supply the parturient 

 animals with as much cold liquid as they require 

 or can drink." 



However plausible this theory of Mr. Brown may 

 be, and however occasionally useful, it must not be 

 received as generally correct. We must look deeper 

 for the real exciting cause of this apparently unna- 

 tural, perhaps inscrutable act, in females of various 

 genera of animals, than thirst, and the mere want of 

 drink, since it is well known to take place when 

 there is no such want, particularly in the rabbit, the 

 least liable to thirst, the sow, the cat, the ferret, and 

 others. The cow also devours her after-burden, in 

 a field of grass, and in reach of the pond at which 

 she is daily accustomed to drink. There are, more- 

 over, formidable objections to this hypothesis of 

 Mr. Brown ; no light one is the solidity of the sub- 

 stance chosen to allay thirst, better calculated, one 

 would suppose, to appease hunger ; and another 

 weighty one in the fact, that some, Or most females, 

 never devour their young, under whatever circum- 

 stances of privation. The doe will, as I have expe- 

 rienced, sometimes commit the act from resentment 



