The Grammar of English Grammars, page 608 by Gould Brown
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, and sex supposes some obvious difference, a young child may be spoken of with distinction of sex or without, according to the notion of the speaker; as, "I went to see the child whilst they were putting on its cloaths."--_Priestley's Gram._, p. 125. "Because the child has no idea of any nurse besides his own."--_Ib._, p. 153. To brute animals also, the same distinction is generally applied, though with less uniformity. Some that are very small, have a gender which seems to be merely occasional and figurative; as, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise."--_Prov._, vi, 6. "The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces."--_Prov._, xxx, 28. So the bee is usually made feminine, being a little creature of admirable industry and economy. But, in general, irrational creatures whose sex is unknown, or unnecessary to be regarded, are spoken of as neuter; as, "And it became a _serpent_; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand."--_Exod._, iv, 3, 4. Here, although the word serpent is sometimes masculine, the neuter pronoun seems to be more proper. So of some imaginary creatures: as, "Phenix, the fowl which is said to exist single, and to rise again from its own ashes."--_Webster's Dict._ "So shall the Phoenix escape, with no stain on its plumage."--_Dr. Bartlett's Lect._, p. 10.
OBS. 9.--But this liberty of representing animals as of no sex, is often carried to a very questionable extent; as, "The hare sleeps with its eyes open."--Barbauld. "The hedgehog, as soon as it perceives itself attacked, rolls itself into a kind of ball, and presents nothing but its prickles to the foe."--_Blair's Re