A Letter from Mr. Long 
begins the work (for the lower orders this is enough), 
the mother’s training develops and supplements the in- 
stinct, and contact with the world finishes the process. 
“A wild animal is a wild animal as soon as it is born, 
and it fears man and its natural 
enemies as soon as its Senses are Sy 
developed,” he writes. But all 
our domestic animals were wild 
yesterday ; how, then, are they 
now tame? Young fawns when 
found in the woods just after birth have no 
fear of man; how does fear come? The 
Arctic animals had no fear of the first 
explorers; now they are wild; whence this 
change? Here are two animals, an otter 
and a fisher; both belong to the weasel 
family, and in a general way are alike. The 
first is gentle and harmless to all animals ; 
the second is a savage and persistent hunter. 
Now, without the mother’s influence and 
teaching how shall the young grouse know, 
as they soon do know, which of these ani- 
mals to avoid and which to ignore? 
Again he says, “‘ Let a domestic cat rear 
its kittens in the woods and they are at once 
wild animals.” That depends entirely on the 
cat. Let a motherly old tabby drop her 
kittens anywhere, and at your approach she 
will rub against your legs, and the kittens 
will be like her. Let a half-starved wild 
creature drop her kittens in the same spot, 
and she will fight at your approach, and the 
kittens will show the same wildness. 
Not only have I watched these animals 
myself, but I have taken infinite pains to 
compare my observations not with the books but with 
the experience of trappers and Indians who know far 
more of animal ways than the books have ever pro- 
vided; and I have heard from old Indians whose 
lives have been spent in the woods, stories of animal 
cunning and intelligence beside which my own small 
observations seem very tame and commonplace. 
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