Synopses & Reviews
PREFACE. HAVING been in the habit of loving and observing animals, as people do who live much in the country, I thought that possibly some of my observations, however trifling in them- selves, might interest others whose tastes are similar to my own. In this spirit I wrote these chapters, describing what I had seen rather than what other writers had recorded. The book has therefore no pretension to system or completeness, but consists merely of desultory chapters, as its title indi- cates. The illustrations, by two deservedly celebrated animal painters, Karl Bodmer and Veyrassat, will be found, it is believed, to add considerably to the value and interest of the volume. P. G. H. CHAPTER. CONTENTS. PAGE- L THE LIFE OF THE BRUTE ... I II. DOGS III. DOGS continued IV. CATS 43 IV. HORSES V. HORSES contimied 1 7 3 2 .61 VI. THE BOVINES 9 VII. ASSES 113 VIII. PIGS 127 IX. WILD BOARS 142 X. WOLVES 156 XL KIDS 174 XII. OTHER ANIMALS 77 188 XIII. BIRDS 197 XIV. BIRDS continued 207 XV. ANIMALS IN ART 221 XVI. CANINE GUESTS . . . . .236 CHAPTERS ON ANIMALS. CHAPTER I. THE LIFE OF THE BRUTE. READERS of Dean Stanleys Life of Dr. Arnold will probably remember a passage, brief but highly interest- about the ing, in which reference is made to his feelings brute creation In works of art he took but little interest, and any extended researches in physical science were precluded by want of time, whilst from natural his- tory he had an instinctive but characteristic shrinking. The whole subject, he said, of the brute creation is to me one of such painful mystery, that I dare not approach it. Mystery indeed there is everywhere, and it is often painful but surely in shrinking from the contemplation of naturethe loss is greater than the gain. That all animals are condemned at one period or another of their existence to undergo suffering, often very severe sufferT B