386 Appendix. 



black necks ■ and flat grey-capped heads, snarling and 

 chattering at me, glaring with fierce, beady eyes. 



The Strange Instincts of Cattle. 



In November and December, 1893, a short correspondence 

 appeared in the FielA on the curious subject of " Dogs 

 burying their dead." It arose through a letter from a Mr. 

 Gould, of Albany, Western -Australia, relating the following 

 incident : — 



A settler shot a bitch from a neighbouring estate that had 

 formed the habit of coming on to his land to visit and play 

 with his dog. The dog, finding his companion dead, was 

 observed to dig a large hole in the ground, into which he 

 dragged the carcase ; but he did not cover it with earth. 

 The writer wished to know if any reader of the Fieldi, had 

 met with a similar case. Some notes, which I contributed 

 in reply to this letter, bear on one of the subjects treated in 

 the chapter on " strange instincts," namely, the instinct of 

 Social animals to protect and shield their fellows ; and for 

 this reason I have thought it best to reproduce them in this 

 place. 



I remember on one occasion watching at intervals, for an 

 entire day, a large and very savage dog keeping watch over 

 the body of a dead bitch that had been shot. He made no 

 attempt to bury the dead animal, but he never left it. He 

 was observed more than once trying to drag the body away, 

 doubtless with, the intention of hiding it ; not succeeding in 

 these attempts, he settled down by its side again, although 

 it was evident that he was suffering greatly from thirst and 

 heat. It was at last only with the greatest trouble that the 

 people of the house succeeded in getting the body away and 

 burying it out of his sight. 



Another instance, more to the point, occurred at my own 

 house on the pampas, and I was one of several persons who 

 witnessed it. A small, red, long-haired bitch — a variety of 



