who were playing loudly outside the house, with every muscle of his
body trembling, with his heart palpitating so quickly that the beats
could hardly be counted, and panting for breath with widely open mouth,
in the same manner as a terrified man does. Yet this dog had not
exerted himself; he had only wandered slowly and restlessly about the
room, and the day was cold.
Even a very slight degree of fear is invariably shown by the tail being
tucked in between the legs. This tucking in of the fail is accompanied
by the ears being drawn backwards; but they are not pressed closely to
the head, as in snarling, and they are not lowered, as when a dog is
pleased or affectionate. When two young dogs chase each other in play,
the one that runs away always keeps his tail tucked inwards. So it is
when a dog, in the highest spirits, careers like a mad creature round
and round his master in circles, or in figures of eight. He then acts
as if another dog were chasing him. This curious kind of play, which
must be familiar to every one who has attended to dogs, is particularly
apt to be excited, after the animal has been a little startled or
frightened, as by his master suddenly jumping out on him in the dusk.
In this case, as well as when two young dogs are chasing each other in
play, it appears as if the one that runs away was afraid of the other
catching him by the tail; but as far as I can find out, dogs very
rarely catch each other in this manner. I asked a gentleman, who had
kept foxhounds all his life, and he applied to other experienced
sportsmen, whether they had ever seen hounds thus seize a fox; but they
never had. It appears that when a dog is chased, or when in danger of
being struck behind, or of anything falling on him, in all these cases
he wishes to withdraw as quickly as possible his whole hind-quarters,
and that from some sympathy or connection between the muscles, the tail
is then drawn closely inwards.
A similarly connected movement between the hind-quarters and the tail
may be observed in the hyaena. Mr. Bartlett informs me that when two of
these animals fight together, they are mutually conscious of the
wonderful power of each other s jaws, and are extremely cautious. They
well know that if one of their legs were seized, the bone would
instantly be crushed into atoms; hence they approach each other
kneeling, with their legs turned as much as possible inwards, and with
their whole bodies bowed, so as not to present any salient point; the
tail at the same time being closely tucked in between the legs. In this
82