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    JULIAN FANJS'S POEMS. Poems. By tho Hono...

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    Instinct Ojb 1 Animals. Illustrations Of...

    whieh are not less necessary to tbe process ; and which , though the effect of skilful -vrrangement , are yet so far automatic , or simply consecutive , that an interruption of their course would place the creature under much difficulty in resuming those which are necessary to the process . It is the habit of the Boa constrictor , a large serpent , to crush and break the bones of the animal it seizes to devour ; and so necessary does this action appear , in order to enable it to swallow the prey whole , as it is obliged to do , that we are led to regard this creature as guided by a calculating intelligence of the best . mode of conducting its proceedings . Yet this scarcely appears to be a right view of the matter . A friend who had carefully watched the actions of a snake of this species , of the length of about six feet , informed me , that being desirous of witnessing its manner of taking its prey , and not able to obtain a larger animal for the purpose , he supplied it with a pigeon , which the serpent immediately proceeded to devour . Having suffered a long fast

    it seemed to experience much trouble in expanding its jaws , the joints of which had grown rigid from want of use . But when they had become flexible by repeated efforts , it proceeded to draw in the bird by the slow but persevering action of its _aaws and teeth ; and no difficulty appeared to hinder the easy accomplishment of the task . Suddenly , however , and rapidly , the serpent threw the coils of its body , at a foot or two behind the head , about tbe object , ( as would have been appropriate to a larger prey , ) and compressing it tightly , the body and wings of the bird became pressed and lengthened ; at which time , still holding firmly by the mouth , it drew the pigeon from the constriction of its coil , and swallowed it with ease . The interposed portion of this proceeding appeared to be entirely unnecessary , so far as concerned its capacity of swallowing this prey : but it seemed to be instinctively unavoidable ; and the age of the creature was decisive to show that it could never have previously had an opportunity of practising it on any animal tha by its hulk could have rendered so complex an operation necessary . "

    Speaking of the various degrees of sensibility manifested by various animals , he says" And how wide an influence even a small difference in these respects may have may be judged by recollecting , that anatomists have not been able to appreciate any change of structure , when in the phenomena of diseased vision the human eye has become insensible to tbe impression of some colours , while it has retained a sensibility to others . It is not improbable that this variety of liability to impression , which in man amounts to disease , is in some animals natural and permanent ; and thus we are able tbe more easily to explain how it happens that in the latter _certain colours produce emotions of rage and terror . That the Bull , the Buffalo , and Turkey , are excited to fury at the sight of a red garment , hecomes thus as explicable , as that the melodious ear is tortured by discordant sounds , which to inferior organizations would be matters of indifference .

    " The conclusion , then , is this : that the essential difference by which one kind of animal is distinguished from another , and in which therefore its specific identity consists , is constituted by the peculiarit y of tissue in its various organs , and the preponderance or complications of such tissue in its whole structure ; but more especially by the peculiarity of its nervous fabric , and the arrangement of what is called its nervous system ; by which impressions are received , and through which they are conveyed to the _sensorium-: —according to the nature of the objects _impressing them ; and still more powerfully according to the nature of the organs accepting and conveying , and of the nervous centre by which they are finally perceived . "

    Curiously enough , side by side with the dislike to give animals the credit of possessing intelligence like ours , we have all a tendency to interpret some of their actions as showing cleverness and foresight , when in truth these actions spring from nothing of the kind . "When we see them do something which we should do upon calculation , -we assume that they too calculate . Thus , when frightened animals feign death , we say , "how cunning ! " But Mr . Gouch very ingeniously argues , that this is not cunning , but the paralysis of fear : — " The character for subtlety which the Fox has bad from the earliest ages , is the main reason why his assumed or presumed inanimation when in danger has been ascribed to intention : for otherwise some of the instances wo havo given , on tips supposition , would not appear to be exceedingly well devised . In two instances which I havo adduced , at _lcarit an effort at escape would have been the most

    _judicious proceeding ; and in bis adventure with the countryman it seems surprising that this was not attempted . But a more probable explanation is , that the suddenness of thc encounter , at a time when the creature thought of no such thing , bad the _efibct _« f stupefying his senses ; so that an effort at escape was out of his power , and the appearance of death was not the fictitious contrivance of cunning , but the consequence of terror . And that this explanation is the true one appears , among other proofs , from tho conduct of a bolder and more ferocious animal , the Wolf , under similar circumstances . If taken in a pitfall , it is said that it is so _sulxlued by surprise , that a man may safely descend and bind and lead it away , or knock it on thc head ; and it is also said that , when it has wandered into a country to which it is a stranger , it loses much of its courage , and may bo assailed almost with impunity . "

    lie is himself , however , on more than one occasion , led into tho mistake . For example , citing the fact of the polecat destroying fifteen _turkeya in a night , he does not attribute that superfluous slaughter to its true causethe excitement of the animal's _destructivencss , but to a presumed gluttony * ' which existed more in tho imagination than in tho capacity of enjoyment . " He oven goes so far as to assume that tho viper is conscious of tho poison of its bite ; and to this consciousness ho attributes the quietness of tho viper after tho bite , " as if waiting for its expected influence . " . _IClsewhere he says : — " It was something like a soundly-reasoned conclusion in an Eagle , that the shell of u Tortoise , which resisted the efforts of his bill , would be broken by a fall from « great height ; aud according to Pliny ( I . x . c . il ) tho poet _yKuchylus suffered from thin experimental philosophy—the bird dropping its prey on his bald head , in the belief that it was a stone . " This vulgar error was ridiculed by us m any months ago , and we wero surprised at finding if in tho pages of so exeellont a work as thin . In tho hrst place , do eagles feed on tortoises F In the second place , would an «* _agle mistake a man ' s bald head for a stoneP In the third , to whom did the eagle communicate the fact of his mistake V Suppose the poet ' s death really to have occurred as related , is not tho explanation of tho eagle ' s intentions purely gratuitous r

    Instinct Ojb 1 Animals. Illustrations Of...

    From among the many passages we had marked for extract we select this on THE SONG OF BIRDS . " It may be from an association of our ideas of the song of birds with the beauty of spring and glory of summer , that the former has been supposed to constitute in a particular manner an expression of amorous feeling , or an exuberance of joy ; and the supposition has derived some countenance from the fact that the utterance of their liveliest expression is reserved for the season when all nature is beginning to exult in the renewal of tbe spring . But , analogous as this is to similar principles in the human race , ( by consulting the emotions or impressions of which we are sometimes best enabled to interpret our observations on the native actions of the lower animals , but by which we are also liable to form a wrong judgment , ) the conclusion from other particulars tends to the idea , that , in most cases , Ifc is neither love nor joy that swells tbe note . In autumn , when many of the smaller birds are

    engaged in shifting their residence , a little party may he seen flitting along , without any intention of resting on their way ; but the call of a bird placed for that purpose in a cage will arrest their progress , and if left to themselves a contest is the result . In these cases it is scarcely possible to imagine a previously existing cause of antipathy ; and therefore we must suppose that a challenge was intended and accepted : excited by such a feeling of alienation or insult as there is proof of having often arisen between birds in captivity and those who are in the enjoyment of freedom . In a wild condition , birds of the same species will not sing near each other ; and if the approach be too close , and the courage equal , a battle follows . Redbreasts offer a frequent example of this ; and if an intruder ventures on the accustomed domain , the song may be low and warbling , or apparently reserved or

    suppressed ; and neither of them will appear to condescend to notice the efforts of its competitor . But this restraint cannot endure long : the music becomes more developed ; it rises higher ; the attack is sudden , and the fight so violent , that they fall to the ground together ; and one is killed , or both may be taken with the hand . Two birds , even if bred in captivity , will not sing in the same cage ; and wben two cages are hung near each other , in order to secure a song , it is necessary to place a screen between them , and hide them from each otber ; for , without this , the bird who is conscious of inferior powers either of song or prowess will not venture to excite the anger of its opponent by an effort of music . For a similar reason the confidence of superior powers elicits a louder and more frequent strain from the sole songster , which it is not difficult to interpret as the exultation of triumph and insult .

    "' A friend of mine , ' says Mr . Bold , in the ' Zoologist , ' vol . ii ., ' informs me that by placing a mirror before an old male mule in his possession , he could at any time he induced to sing , beginning with a gentle cadence , and gradually rising as he became excited : at length he poured forth his notes with rapidity and vehemence , and if not prevented by a timely removal of the mirror , dashed madly forward to the attack of his imaginary rival . That his song was not one of love was proved by introducing a bird of the opposite sex into the cage ; for , after singing his usual song , he attacked it with fury , and would soon have destroyed it , had it not been removed . The same party kept a Redbreast in confinement for nine months . On placing a mirror near its cage , it immediately expressed tbe recognition of its fellow by a particular low and sweet note , and would give vent to its satisfaction in a loud song . In fine weather this bird was generally placed outside , and daily carolled his gay notes to his own image reflected from tbe window . '

    " How large a share of the spirit of contention for supremacy in musical strength and duration is engaged in such competitions , will appear from the methods employed to urge a pair of Canaries to vie with each other . The scraping of a pan , or the noise of a crying child , excites them to exertion , or revives it when it begins to droop ; and how much passion is contained iu these modulations may be learned from the tale of the Nightingale who entered into competition with the instrument of the musician , and fell exhausted at the foot of the player . " Again : — "A bird in captivity has been known to sing more and louder than usual , until it fell dead at the bottoni of the cage , to solicit attention to its deficiency of food , from the want of which it at last perished ; and another instance is related where tho little creature sung earnestly when surrounded by the flames of a burning ] -ousc . " We quit this delightful volume with an emphatic recommendation of it to the attention of our readers .

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    Julian Fanjs's Poems. Poems. By Tho Hono...

    JULIAN _FANJS'S POEMS . Poems . By tho Honourable Julian Fane . Pickering . It was gaily and yet profoundly said by Goethe that we have to endure an immense amount of singing and talking from men who in s pite ol" all their hoarseness and fatigue really sing nothing that they might not have said : — Was viele singen und sagen Das _niiissen wir eben ertragen ! Ihr ( Juten—grosser und kleinerlhr singt euch miide und matt ; Und singt doch ke . iner

    Als was er zu sagen hat ! This fundamental distinction of Song from Speech we are always enforcing , when young poeta come in our way . The Poet , and not simply a man of poetical taste with tho " _accomplinhmont of verse , " in primarily a Singer . If he be not that he is nothing . All the talent in the world , nil the culture of colleges , will not avail him . If ho can sa i / the thought that ih rn him moro clearly und more effectively than he can sinif it , he has chosen the wrong vehicle in choosing verso . There is a certain undehnable something—an accent , it may he , giving

    hints of undeveloped melod y—in the pages of this modest little volume , which makes iih pause in delivering a verdict . That Mr . Julian hi \ ne is _n Singer we will not nay ; neither will we say that ho may not develope into one . lie is tho author of a Prize Poem—which , considered jus nn isolated fact , is somewhat damnatory ; and many pages of this volume hear on them the traces of what may bo culled tho " " Prize poem state of mind , " namely , ripe , deliberate , mediocrity . On tho other hand , it niuy he said Tennyson himself is the author of a Prize Poem ; nay more , he wrote in early life _poomn both mediocre and trivial . If , therefore , Mr . Julian Funo exhibits tho versifior ' s easy acquiescence in commonplace imagery , and indolently

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04091852/page/19/