Lll.] 
OF SELBORNE. 
137 
autumn before it retires : through tlie height of the summer it 
feeds voraciously, devouring all the food that comes in its way. 
1 was much taken with its sagacity in discerning those that do 
it kind offices ; for as soon as the good old lady comes in sight who 
has waited on it for more than thirty years, it hobbles towards its 
benefactress with awkward alacrity ; but remains inattentive to 
strangers. Thus not only " the ox knoweth its owner, and the 
ass his master's crib,"^ but the most abject reptile and torpid of 
beings distinguishes the hand tliat feeds it, and is touched with 
the feelings of gratitude ! 
P.S. — In about three days after I left Sussex the tortoise 
retired into the ground under the hepatica. 
April 12, 1772. 
LETTER Lll. 
TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRIXGTON. 
The more I reflect on the aropyr) of animals, the more I am 
astonished at its effects. Nor is the violence of this affection 
more wonderful than the shortness of its duration. Thus every 
hen is in her turn the virago of the yard, in proportion to the 
lielplessness of her brood; and will fly in the face of a dog or a 
sow in defence of those chickens, which in a few weeks she 
will drive before her with relentless cruelty. 
This affection sublimes the passions, quickens the invention, 
and sharpens the sagacity of the brute creation. Thus a hen, 
just become a mother, is no longer that placid bird she used to 
be, but with feathers standing on end, wings hovering, and 
clucking note, she runs about like one possessed. Dams will 
throw themselves in the way of the greatest danger in order to 
avert it from their progeny. Thus a partridge will tumble along 
before a sportsman in order to draw away the dogs from her 
helpless covey. In the time of nidification the most feeble 
1 Isaiah i. 3. 
