4.28 ANMMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



question. It will be observed that it is much the same 

 as that which is displayed under similar circumstances 

 by rats and wolverines, in which animals we have already 

 considered it. In all these cases the intelligence dis- 

 played must justly be deemed to be of a very remarkable 

 order. For, inasmuch as traps are not things to be met 

 with in nature, hereditary experience cannot be supposed 

 to have played any part in the formation of special 

 instincts to avoid the dangers arising from traps, and 

 therefore the astonishing devices by which these dangers 

 are avoided can only be attributed to observation, coupled 

 with intelligent investigation of a remarkably high cha- 

 racter. 



I extract the following from Couch's * Illustrations of 

 Instinct '(P- 175): 



Whenever a cat is tempted by the bait, and caught in a fox- 

 trap, Reynard is at hand to devour the bait and the cat too, and 

 fearlessly approaches an instrument which the fox must know 

 cannot then do it any harm. Let us compare with, this bold- 

 ness the incredible caution with which the animal proceeds 

 when tempted by the bait in a set trap. Dietrich aus dem 

 Winkell had once the good fortune of observing, on a winter 

 evening, a fox which for many preceding days had been allured 

 with loop baits, and as often as it ate one it sat comfortably 

 down, wagging its brush. The nearer it approached the trap, 

 the longer did it hesitate to take the baits, and the oftener did it 

 make the tour round the catching-place. When arrived near 

 the trap it squatted down, and eyed the bait for ten minutes at 

 least ; whereupon it ran three or four times round the trap, 

 then it stretched out one of its fore-paws after the bait, but did 

 not touch it ; again a pause, during which the fox stared im- 

 movably at the bait. At last, as if in despair, the animal made 

 a rush and was caught by the neck. (Mag. Nat. Hist., N. S., 

 vol. i., p. 512.) 



In 'Nature,' vol. xxi., p. 132, Mr. Crehore, writing from 

 Boston, says : 



Some years since, while hunting in Northern Michigan, I 

 tried with the aid of a professional trapper to entrap a fox who 

 made nightly visits to a spot where the entrails of a deer had 

 been thrown. Although we tried every expedient that sug- 

 gested itself to us we were unsuccessful, and, what seemed very 



