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Show 76 THE DESCENT OF MAN. PART 1. months old, who, loudly calling for aid, climbed on a block of rock and was surrounded. Now one of the largest males, a true hero, came down ao-ain from the • 0 rnount~m, slowly went to the young one, coaxed him,. and trmmp~antly led him away-the dogs being too much astomshed to make an attack. I cannot resist giving ~nother scene which was witnessed by this same nat.urahst; _an. eagle seized a young Cercopithecus, whwh, by clmgmg to a branch, was not at once carried off; it cried loudly for assistance, upon which the other mernbets of the troop with much uproar rushed to the rescue, surrounded the eagle, and pulled out so many feathers, that hen~ longer thought of his prey, but only how to escape. ~his eagle, as Brehm remarks, assuredly woul~ never _agam attack a monkey in a troop. It IS certam that associated animals have a feelino- of lov~ for e~ch other which is not felt by adult and :onsocial a~Imals: How far in most cases they actually sympathise With each other's pains and pleasures is ~oi·e doubtful, especially with respect to the latter. 1\'Ir. Bu~ton, however, who had excellent means of observation/ states that his macaws, which Jived free in N_orfolk, took "an extravagant interest" in a pair WI:~ a nest, and whenever the female left it, she was "s unou.n ded. by a troop "screaming h oru. ' bl e aceI a-matwns Ill_ her honour." It is often difficult to judge whet~er ammals have any feeling for each other's. suffermgs. vVho can say what cows feel when they surroun~ and stare intently on a dyi~o- or dead com_pamon? That animals sometimes ar; far from feelmg any sympathy is too certain; for they will expel a wounded animal from the he ·d . · I , or gore or worry It to death. This is almost the blac k es t f'a c t m. natural 9 'Annuls and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' November, 1868, p. 382. ,_;nAr. III. MORAL SENSE. 77 history, un1ess indeed the explanation which has been suggested is true, that their instinct or reason leads them to expel an injured companion, lest beasts of prey, including man, should be tempted to follow the troop. In this case their conduct is not. much worse than that of the North American Indians who leave their feeble comrades to perish on the plains, or the Feegeans, who, when their parents get old or fall ill, bury them alive.10 Many animals, however, certainly sympathise with each other's distress or danger. This is the case even with birds; Capt. Stansbury 11 found on a salt lake in Utah an old and completely blind pelican, which was very fat, and must have been long and well fed by his companions. 1\'Ir. Blyth, as he informs me, saw Indian crows feeding two or three of their companions which were blind ; and I have heard of an analogous case with the domestic cock. 'vVe may, if we choose, call these actions instinctive; but such cases are much too rare for the development of any special instinct.12 I have myself seen a clog, who never passed a great friend of his, a cat which lay sick in a basket, without giving her a few licks with his tongue, the surest sjgn of kind feeling in a dog. It must be called sympathy that leads a courageous dog to fly at any one who strikes his master, as he certainly will. I saw a person pretending to beat a lady who had a very timid little clog on her lap, and the trial had never before been made. The little crea.- 10 Sir J. Lubbock, 'Prehistoric Times,' 2nd edit. p. 446. 11 As quoted by Mr. L. H. Morgan, 'The American Beaver,' 1868, Jl. 272. Capt. Stansbury also gives an interesting account of the manncr in which a very young pelican, carried away by a strong stream, was guided and encouraged in its attempts to reach the shore by half a dozen old birds. 12 As Mr. Bain states, "effective aid to a sufferer springs from sym" pathy proper:'' ' Mental and Moml Science,' 1868, p. 245. |
