FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 969, 
leavmg the nest for many days, the mothers apparent- 
ly keep them clean, by licking off all moisture and fecal 
matter, so that you shall find the hair of their bed always 
dry, as well as the straw beneath and around. When at- 
tempted to be reared from birth without a mother, it is 
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to keep them dry. 
e. In each species protecting its own offspring from dan- 
ger.—This is chiefly accomplished by fighting in their de- 
fence against the threatening foe. Even those animals, as 
the common hen and sheep, which, in general, protect their 
own lives by flight, will, in defence of their young, brave 
every danger, and exhibit a degree of courage, amounting 
to a total disregard to their own safety. Sometimes, how- 
ever, they employ stratagems to lead the foe to a distance, 
We have seen the common partridge actually strike at a 
pointer, who had, by accident, rushed unperceived by the 
old birds, into the middle of a covey. The ordinary de- 
vice which she employs 1s to run off, with her wings hanging 
down, as if she had been wounded, to entice the dog to follow 
her, and leave her young in safety. We have seen equally in- 
teresting examples of the display of the same instinctof feign- 
ing lameness, to lead an obtruder from the young, in the com- 
mon wild duck, ringed plover, golden plover, and arctic gull. 
When accidents prevent the young from reaching the 
period when they can provide for their own wants, we ob- 
serve the parents in a state of paimful uneasiness, and ex- 
pressing their grief in sounds which they seldom utter on 
other occasions. 
In the human species, this instinctive affection continues 
to operate during the whole of life. In the inferior ani- 
mals, on the other hand, the feeling which binds the 
parent to the offspring, ceases, when the latter have become 
capable of supplymg their own wants, and securing their 
own enjoyments. With many animals, indeed, this in- 
