B R U 
g>et. In certain clafu-$ of animals, this appears evident to 
the fen rued pro Fe (for, who Teems to have obferved with 
great lagncity and attention their various operations and 
proceedings, their ways and means, &c. He thinks it 
impollible to deduce this variety of adtion in any animals 
(it' we except thofe of the lowed clafies in the gradation 
of intelligence) from a general and uniform inllinet. For 
they accommodate their operations to times and circum- 
(lances. They combine-, they chod'e the favourable mo¬ 
ment, they avail themfelves of the occafion, and feem to 
receive inttruflion by experience. Many of their opera¬ 
tions announce refledlion : the bird repairs a fhattered neft, 
inftead of conftrufting inftindf ively a new one: the hen, 
who has been robbed of her eggs, changes her place in 
order to lay the remainder with more fecurity : the cat 
di (covers both care and artifice in concealing her kittens. 
Again, it is evident, that, on many occasions, animals 
know their faults and miftakes, and coned them; they 
fometimes contrive the moft ingenious methods of ob¬ 
taining their ends, and, when one method fails, have re- 
conrfe to another; and they have, without doubt, a kind 
■of language for the mutual communication of their ideas. 
How is ail this to be accounted for, unlefs we fuppofe 
them endowed with the powers of perceiving, thinking, 
remembering, comparing, and judging? They have thefe 
powers, indeed, in a degree inferior to that in which they 
are polleped by the human fpecies, and form dalles below 
them in the graduated fcale of intelligent beings. But 
ftill it feems to profettor Bergman unreafonable to exclude 
them from the place which the principles of found philo- 
Ibpliy, and fads afcertained by conftant obfervation, afiign 
to them in the great and diverfified fphere of life, fenfa- 
tion, and intelligence ; he does nor, however, confider 
them as beings whofe adtions are diretled to moral ends, 
nor confequently as accountable and proper fubjeds for 
reward or {nmijhmenl in a future world. 
That brute animals pofiefs refledionand fentiment, and 
are fufceptible of the kindly as well as the iralcible paf- 
fions, independently of fexual attachment and natural af- 
fedion, is evident from the numerous infhinces of affedion 
and gratitude daily obfervable in different animals, parti¬ 
cularly the dog. Of thofe and other fentiments, fuch as 
pride, and even a fenfe of glory, the elephant exhibits 
proofs equally furprifing and indubitable, as the reader 
may fee under the article Elephas. 
As to the natural affedion of brutes, fays Mr. White, 
in his Natural Hilt cry of Selborne, “ the more I refled on 
it, the more 1 am aftonifhed at its effeds. Nor is the vio¬ 
lence of this affedion more wonderful than the fhortnefs 
of its duration. Thus every hen is in her turn the virago 
of the yard, in proportion to the helpleffnefs of her brood ; 
and will fly in the face of a dog or a fow in defence of 
thofe chickens which in a few weeks (he will drive before 
her with relentlefs cruelty. This affedion fublimes the 
paflions, quickens the invention, and fharpens the faga- 
city, of the brute creation. Thus an hen, juft become a 
mother, is no longer that placid bird file ufed to be, but 
with feathers handing on end, wings hovering, and clock¬ 
ing note, fhe runs about like one poffefled. Dams will 
■throw themfelve<s-in the way of the greateft danger, in or¬ 
der to avert it from their progeny. Thus a partridge will 
tumble along before a fporffnian, in order to draw away 
the dogs from her helplefs covey. In the time of nidifi- 
cation the moft feeble birds will aflault the moll rapacious. 
All the hirundines of a village are up in arms at the fight 
of a hawk, whom they will perfeente till he leaves that 
diflrid. A very exact obferver has often remarked, that 
a pair of ravens neftling in the rock of Gibraltar would 
fuffer po vulture or eagle to reft near their ilation, but 
would drive them from the hill with an amazing fury : 
even the blue thru(h, at the feafon of breeding, would 
dart -out from the clefts of the rocks to chafe away the 
kellril or the fparrow-hawk. If you Band near the nell of 
a bird that has young, flie will not be induced to betray 
them by an inadvertent fondnefs, but will wait about at a 
VoL. 111 . No. iqi, 
T E. 461 
diflance with meat in her mouth for an hour together. 
Trie fly-catcher builds, every year in the vines that grow 
on the walls of my hoitfe : a pair of thel’e little birds had 
inadvertently placed their neft: on a naked bough, perhaps 
in a fhady time, not being aware of the inconvenience that 
followed; but an hot funny feafon coming on before the 
bropd was half fledged, the reflexion of the wall became 
infupportable, and muff inevitably have deftroyed the ten¬ 
der young, had not affection fuggeffed an expedient, and 
prompted the parent-birds to hover over the neft: all the 
hotter hours, while, with wings expanded and mouths ga¬ 
ping for breath, they fereenea off the heat for their fuffer- 
ing offspring.” 
A wonderful fpirit of fociality in the brute creation, in¬ 
dependent of fexual attachment, has been frequently re¬ 
marked. Many horfes, though quiet with company, will 
not flay one minute in afield by themfelves; the ftrongeft 
fences cannot reftrain them. A horfe lias been known to 
leap out at a liable window, thro’ which dung was thrown, 
atter company ; and yet in other refpedts to be remarkably 
quiet. Oxen and cows will not fatten by themfelves, but 
will neglect the fineft paflure that is not recommended by 
fociety. it would be needlefs to infiance this in Bleep, 
which conftantly flock together: but this pro pen ft ty feems 
not to be confined to animals of the lame fpecies. In the 
work Lift quoted, we are told of “a doe ftill alive, that 
was brought up from a little fawn with a dairy of cows; 
with them it goes a-field, and with them it returns to the 
yard. The dogs of the houfe take no notice of this deer, 
being ufed to her ; but, if flrange dogs come by, a chace 
enfues; while the matter fmiles to fee his favourite fecure- 
)y leading her purfuers over hedge, or gate, er ftyle, till 
flie returns to the cows, who with fierce lowin-gs and me¬ 
nacing horns drive the attailants quite out of the pafture.” 
Even great difparity of kind and lize does not always 
prevent facial advances and mutual fellowfhip. Of this 
the following remarkable inflance is given in the fame 
work: “ A very intelligent and obfervant perfon has af- 
fured me, that in the former part of his life, keeping but 
one horfe, he happened alfoon a time to have but-one fo- 
litary hen. Thefe two incongruous animals fpent much 
of their time together in a lonely orchard, where they faw 
no creature but each other. By degrees an apparent re¬ 
gard began to take place between tliefe two fequeflered 
individuals. The fowl would approach the quadruped 
with notes of complacency, rubbing herfelf gently againft 
his legs; while the horfe would look down with fatisfac- 
tion, and move with the greateft caution and circumfpec- 
tion, left lie fhould trample on his diminutive companion : 
thus by mutual good offices each feemed to confole the 
vacant hours of the other.” 
To thefe inftances of attachment between incongruous 
animals from a fpirit of fociality or the feelings of lymjia- 
thy, may be added the following inflance of fondnefs from 
a different motive, recounted by Mr. White in the work 
above-mentioned : “ My friend had a little helplefs leve¬ 
ret brought to him, which the fervants fed with milk in a 
fpoon ; and about the fame time his cat kittened, and the 
young were difpatched and buried. The hare was fo’dn 
loft, and fuppofed to be gone the way of molt foundlings, 
or to be killed by feme dog or cat. However, in about 
a fortnight, as the matter was fitting in his garden in the 
dufk of the evening, he obferved his cat, with tail eredt, 
trotting towards lum, and calling with little ftiort inward 
notes of complacency, fuch as they ule towards their kit¬ 
tens, and fomething gamboling after, which proved to be 
the leveret, which the cat had fupported with her milk, 
and continued to fupport with great attention : thus was a 
graminivorous animal nurtured by a carnivorous and pre¬ 
daceous one ! Why fo cruel and fanguinary a beaft as a cat, 
of the ferocious genus of felis, the murium leo, as Linnaeus 
calls it, ftiould be affected with any tendernefs towards an 
animal which is its natural prey, is uot fo eafy to deter- 
mme. This flrange aftedtion probably was occafioned by 
that defideriuro, thole tender maternal feelings, which the 
6 is . lofs 
