HUMAN TRAITS IN THE ANIMALS 



mate — these feelings seem about the same in kind 

 among all creatures. Of course they are more com- 

 plex, far-reaching, and abiding in man than in 

 the animals below him, but their genesis seems 

 the same. 



Among both birds and four-footed beasts, the 

 maternal aflfection is doubtless greater than the 

 paternal, and this also is human; But how brief 

 and fugitive the affection is, compared with the 

 same attachment in our own species ! — of a few 

 weeks' duration among our common birds, and a 

 few months or a year among the mammals, but 

 always as long as the well-being of the young re- 

 quires it. When they become self-supporting, the 

 parental affection ceases. And in a limited sense 

 this is true in our own case. 



If a bird loses its mate during the breeding sea- 

 son, the period of mourning and waiting is very 

 brief, usually not more than a day or two. The 

 need of rearing a family is urgent, and nature wastes 

 no time in unavailing regrets. Just how the be- 

 reaved mate makes her or his wants known, I never 

 could find out; but it seems there are always not 

 far off some unmated birds of both sexes that are 

 ready to step in and complete the circle once more. 

 From sparrows to eagles, this seems to be the 

 rule. 



With what species, if any, the marriage unions 

 last during life, I do not know. Neither do I know 

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