The Death-feignin^^ Instinct. 203 
draws a little w^ay from the feigning fox, and watches 
him very attentively, a slight opening of the eye 
may be detected ; and, finally, when left to himself, 
he does not recover and start up like an animal that 
has been stunned, but slowly and cautiously raises 
his head first, and only gets up when his foes are at 
a safe distance. Yet I have seen gauchos, who are 
very cruel to animals, practise the most barbarous 
experiments on a captive fox without being able to 
rouse it into exhibiting any sign of life. This has 
greatly puzzled me, since, if death-feigning is simply 
a cunning habit, the animal could not suffer itself 
to be mutilated without wincing. I can only believe 
that the fox, though not insensible, as its behaviour 
on being left to itself appears to prove, yet has its 
body thrown by extreme terror into that benumbed 
condition which simulates death, and during which 
it is unable to feel the tortures practised on it. 
The swoon sometimes actually takes place before 
the animal has been touched, and even when the 
exciting cause is at a considerable distance. I was 
once riding with a gaucho, when we saw, on the open 
level ground before us, a fox, not yet fully grown, 
standing still and watching our approach. All at 
once it dropped, and when we came up to the spot 
it was lying stretched out, with eyes closed, and 
apparently dead. Before passing on my companion, 
who said it was not the first time he had seen such 
a thing, lashed it vigorously with his Vvhip for some 
moments, but without producing the slightest 
effect. 
The death-feigning instinct is possessed in a very 
marked degree by the spotted tinamou or common 
