his hair instantly becomes smooth; his ears are depressed and drawn
backwards, but not closely to the head; and his lips hang loosely. From
the drawing back of the ears, the eyelids become elongated, and the
eyes no longer appear round and staring. It should be added that the
animal is at such times in an excited condition from joy; and
nerve-force will be generated in excess, which naturally leads to
action of some kind. Not one of the above movements, so clearly
expressive of affection, are of the least direct service to the animal.
They are explicable, as far as I can see, solely from being in complete
opposition or antithesis to the attitude and movements which, from
intelligible causes, are assumed when a dog intends to fight, and which
consequently are expressive of anger. I request the reader to look at
the four accompanying sketches, which have been given in order to
recall vividly the appearance of a dog under these two states of mind.
It is, however, not a little difficult to represent affection in a dog,
whilst caressing his master and wagging his tail, as the essence of the
expression lies in the continuous flexuous movements.
Dog Carressing his Master. Fig. 8
We will now turn to the cat. When this animal is threatened by a dog,
it arches its back in a surprising manner, erects its hair, opens its
mouth and spits. But we are not here concerned with this well-known
attitude, expressive of terror combined with anger; we are concerned
only with that of rage or anger. This is not often seen, but may be
observed when two cats are fighting together; and I have seen it well
exhibited by a savage cat whilst plagued by a boy. The attitude is
almost exactly the same as that of a tiger disturbed and growling over
its food, which every one must have beheld in menageries. The animal
assumes a crouching position, with the body extended; and the whole
tail, or the tip alone, is lashed or curled from side to side. The hair
is not in the least erect. Thus far, the attitude and movements are
nearly the same as when the animal is prepared to spring on its prey,
and when, no doubt, it feels savage. But when preparing to fight, there
is this difference, that the ears are closely pressed backwards; the
mouth is partially opened, showing the teeth; the fore feet are
occasionally struck out with protruded claws; and the animal
occasionally utters a fierce growl. (See figs. 9 and 10.) All, or
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