MANY VARIATIONS 63 



ing of its fellows far across the foggy waste of 

 ice-floes ; and that little leather scoop standing 

 behind the ear-hole seems to be just the instrument 

 required to catch and send down those sounds which 

 would otherwise glance off the glossy fur and never 

 find entrance to the tiny orifice at all. If it were 

 any larger than is absolutely necessary it would be 

 a serious impediment to a professional diver and 

 swimmer like the sea-lion. This is the reason why 

 otters have very small ears, and why whales and 

 porpoises have none at all. 



But when a beast lives on land the conditions are 

 all altered, and then the ear blossoms out into an 

 infinite variety of forms and sizes, from each of 

 which the true naturalist may divine the manner 

 of life of its wearer as surely as the palmist tells 

 your past, present and future from the lines on your 

 hand. First, he will divide all beasts into those 

 that pursue and those that flee, oppressors and 

 oppressed. The former point their ears forwards, 

 but the latter backwards. There may be a good 

 deal of free play in both cases, but I am thinking 

 of the habitual position. When a cat is making 

 its felonious way along the garden wall, wrapped in 

 thoughts of blackbirds and thrushes, its ears look 

 straight forwards, and this is the way in which a cat's 

 portrait is always taken, because it is characteristic. 

 It cannot turn them round to catch sounds from 

 behind, and would scorn to do so; when accosted 

 from behind, it turns its head and looks danger in 

 12 



