THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST, 



VOLUME THE THIRD. 



ZOOLOGY, 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF ANIMAL REASON. 



By W. LAUDER LINDSAY, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.LS. 



FOR the last five years, I have had occasion to study end- 

 less books, pamphlets, reports, serials, newspapers, and 

 even MSS., containing anecdotes of Animal Intelligence. My 

 object has been to accumulate trustworthy data — -facts — on 

 which to base general conclusions as to the nature and range 

 of Mind in the Lower Animals. While I have found such anec- 

 dotes literally innumerable, only a small proportion is of any 

 real value — for the following reasons : — 



i. Many are anonymous. 



2. The names of the authorities for others are those of persons 



utterly " unknown to fame," of whose competency to 

 observe, and of whose accuracy in the description of, 

 facts, we know nothing. 



3. Others are clad in such a garb that it is impossible to dis- 



tinguish fact from fiction. Ostensibly to render them "in- 

 teresting" — to attract readers — they are made to assume 

 the form of, and are spoken of as, " Stories," — a term 

 which suggests at least the idea of fiction. 



4. What is obviously the same incident is recorded over and 



over again, in various guises or disguises, in a succession 



