Essays on Natural History: Chiefly Ornithology (Paperback)

Essays on Natural History: Chiefly Ornithology Book Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: that I entertain no rancorous feeling against him. But, on the contrary, should he accept my invitation to Walton Hall, I will shake him by the hand, and offer him good old English hospitality, until we set out in quest of monkeys possessing the power of throwing stones, or of hurling any projectile whatever. So no more at present, my pretty Pet, from thy affectionate Parent, " Charles Waterton. " Walton Hall, July 1858." THE DOG TRIBE. " Canibusquc Sagacior Anser." The above quotation informs us, that the Roman poet Ovid, evidently considered the goose to be superior in sagacity to the dog. We, wiser in our generation, have been taught otherwise; for, when a man cannot exactly comprehend our meaning, we lose temper and call him a goose; but when a man shows brain in ferreting out a dubious case, we declare that he has the sagacity of a hound. It appears then, in our times, that as far as sagacity is concerned, the dog is superior to the goose. I propose not to give a detailed account of the dog family, even were it in my power, and I had the time to spare; because this family is most numerous, whilst its varieties may be considered as nearly endless. My object is to treat the subject incidentally, avoiding the introduction of hard names, and repudiating refined classification; which last I willingly leave to those learned naturalists, whose unwearied researches and consummate knowledge will enable them to decide why a sparrow hops and why a wagtail walks. I merelyintend to touch lightly upon the virtues and vices of dogs in general; and to look at them in their state of nature on one hand, whilst, on the other, I consider them as obedient slaves under the iron rule of man; but in both positions, I absolutely deny to all dogs the faculty of reasoning?reason is du...

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