I briefly alluded to this
subject in the last edition of my `Origin of Species.' Since the passages
in the text above have been printed, I have been pleased to find that
Mr. Henderson (`The American Naturalist,' May, 1872, p. 260) also takes
a similar view of the use of the rattle, namely "in preventing an attack
from being made."
_The Drawing back and pressure of the Ears to the Head_.--The ears
through their movements are highly expressive in many animals;
but in some, such as man, the higher apes, and many ruminants,
they fail in this respect. A slight difference in position serves
to express in the plainest manner a different state of mind,
as we may daily see in the dog; but we are here concerned only with
the ears being drawn closely backwards and pressed to the head.
A savage frame of mind is thus shown, but only in the case of those
animals which fight with their teeth; and the care which they
take to prevent their ears being seized by their antagonists,
accounts for this position. Consequently, through habit
and association, whenever they feel slightly savage, or pretend
in their play to be savage, their ears are drawn back.
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