THE GREAT DOG-SUPERSTITION 269 



beak and hiss and strike at his legs, showing as 

 much suspicion and " sense of proprietorship " as 

 a dog does when it barks and snaps at a visitor. 

 Its owner's arrival would be greeted with demonstra- 

 tions of affection and joy, and following him into 

 the house it would spend an hour or two very 

 happily if allowed to sit on his feet, or nestling close 

 against them on the hearth-rug. 



The behaviour of this poor teal might seem a 

 very great thing, but it amounts to very little 

 after all ; the memory that all animals have, and 

 perhaps a little judgement — the " small dose of 

 reason " which Huber found that even insects 

 possessed — and attachment to the beings it was 

 accustomed to see and associate with, and who 

 attended to all its wants and gently caressed it. 

 In the matter of the affections it has no advantage 

 even over Darwin's celebrated snail. No doubt the 

 self-sacrificing snail proved too much for Darwin's 

 argvmient, as Professor Mivart has pointed out ; 

 fortunately the case of the teal, which can be 

 substantiated, does not prove too much for the 

 argument contained in this article. To be astonished 

 at the display of such faculties and affections in a 

 bird so low down in the scale would show ignorance 

 of Nature. And there is no doubt that most men 

 are very ignorant about her ; so ignorant that if 

 the teal had the place in our life which belongs to 

 the dog, and had been with us for centuries, a 

 companion and pet in our houses to the exclusion 

 of other kinds, we should now believe that it 



