they ruffle their feathers, spread out their wings and tail, to make
themselves look as big as possible, so cats stand upright at their full
height, arch their backs, often raise the basal part of the tail, and
erect their hair, for the same purpose. The lynx, when attacked, is
said to arch its back, and is thus figured by Brehm. But the keepers in
the Zoological Gardens have never seen any tendency to this action in
the larger feline animals, such as tigers, lions, &c.; and these have
little cause to be afraid of any other animal.
Cats use their voices much as a means of expression, and they utter,
under various emotions and desires, at least six or seven different
sounds. The purr of satisfaction, which is made during both inspiration
and expiration, is one of the most curious. The puma, cheetah, and
ocelot likewise purr; but the tiger, when pleased, emits a peculiar
short snuffle, accompanied by the closure of the eyelids. [507] It is
said that the lion, jaguar, and leopard, do not purr.
_Horses_. Horses when savage draw their ears closely back, protrude
their heads, and partially uncover their incisor teeth, ready for
biting. When inclined to kick behind, they generally, through habit,
draw back their ears; and their eyes are turned backwards in a peculiar
manner.[508] When pleased, as when some coveted food is brought to them
in the stable, they raise and draw in their heads, prick their ears,
and looking intently towards their friend, often whinny. Impatience is
expressed by pawing the ground.
The actions of a horse when much startled are highly expressive. One
day my horse was much frightened at a drilling machine, covered by a
tarpaulin, and lying on an open field. He raised his head so high, that
his neck became almost perpendicular; and this he did from habit, for
the machine lay on a slope below, and could not have been seen with
more distinctness through the raising of the head; nor if any sound had
proceeded from it, could the sound have been more distinctly heard. His
eyes and ears were directed intently forwards; and I could feel through
the saddle the palpitations of his heart. With red dilated nostrils he
snorted violently, and whirling round, would have dashed off at full
speed, had I not prevented him. The distension of the nostrils is not
for the sake of scenting the source of danger, for when a horse smells
carefully at any object and is not alarmed, he does not dilate his
nostrils. Owing to the presence of a valve in the throat, a horse when
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