2S6 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



fear seem to be mingled. In creatures such as 

 the mongoose, hog, and certain deer and birds 

 which make a custom of killing snakes, the 

 feeling of aversion does not lead to flight, but 

 from the frenzied manner of their attack it is 

 obviously present. Usually their behaviour 

 shows much more emotional disturbance when 

 they are doing battle with snakes than when 

 they are pitted against any other form of 

 enemy. 



When we consider the innumerable and mar- 

 vellous shifts to which nature resorts in pro- 

 viding safety for her feebler children, it would 

 be a matter for surprise if she failed to make 

 use of so pronounced and widely distributed an 

 influence as this inbred horror of the serpent. 

 I think there can be but little doubt that the 

 otherwise inexplicable and useless hissing of de- 

 fenceless young creatures, such as those men- 

 tioned, has been evolved in order to take 

 advantage of this instinct. 



It may be objected that a hungry carnivore 

 which had discovered the presence of some help- 

 less creatures in a hole would be able to assure 

 himself of their true nature without much diffi- 

 culty, and would therefore not be deterred if 



