46 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



lias access, but prepares an isolated tunnel, at the end of which 

 she forms her nest. The bed on which the young recline is beau- 

 tifully soft and fine, being composed chiefly of the downy fur 

 which grows on the mother's breast, and which she plucks off 

 with her teeth in tufts of considerable size. Any one who keeps 

 tame Eabbits may see the female preparing her cradle with this 

 soft fur, and note how perseveringly she denudes her breast of its 

 covering. 



Much stress has been laid on the self-sacrifice exhibited by the 

 animal, but I can not believe that there is any sacrifice in the 

 case. We know that if we were to pull out handfuls of our hair, 

 we should suffer exceeding pain, and should, moreover, feel very 

 uncomfortable for want of the locks which we had torn away. 

 But the case of the Eabbit has no real analogy with such a pro- 

 ceeding, for the fur of the animal is at that time so loosely attach- 

 ed to the skin that it falls off as easily as the hairs of a cat in sum- 

 mer, and its evulsion produces no such disastrous effects as would 

 follow the forcible plucking out of human hair. No raw and 

 bleeding surface is seen when the fur of the Eabbit is removed, 

 and scarcely a sign of inflammation is visible upon the skin. The 

 act is a purely instinctive one, involving no more self-sacrifice 

 than is occasioned by any other instinctive act ; and perhaps we 

 should not be very far wrong if we were to say that the animal 

 would experience more self-sacrifice in omitting than in commit- 

 ting the act in question. 



The incubation of the eider duck presents similar features, the 

 parent birds stripping themselves of their down in order to form 

 a warm bed for their young. Yet, I do not think that there is 

 any self-sacrifice in the case, and fully believe that the creatup^ 

 experiences a feeling of gratification rather than of inconvenience 

 when it plucks away the down and arranges it for the reception 

 of the eg-crs. And, even if we grant that the Eabbit or eider duck 



DO ' i ~ J 



did find that they were less comfortable after they had denuded 

 themselves than before, and, moreover, that they knew beforehand 

 what would be the effect of the operation, we are met by the fact 

 that they are obeying an impulse which they can not resist, and 

 that the idea of self-sacrifice is therefore untenable. A sacrifice 

 it may be; but not a self-sacrifice as we understand that phrase at 

 the present day. 



In like manner, also, the beautiful gold-tail moth (Porthesia 

 chrysorrhcea), so well known for the soft downy plumage of its 



