336 The Scottish Natwalist. 



(2.) Useless extracts from not very modern works that are 



not reliable. 

 (3.) Useful quotations from other more modern works of 

 Travel or Natural History ; the titles and dates of pub- 

 lication, however, never being satisfactorily given. 

 (4.) Useful records of original and interesting personal 

 observation in Scotland on the one hand, and in the 

 Zoological Gardens of London on the other. 

 And this personal Experience leads its Author to make admis- 

 sions that are singularly incompatible with his "unerring" instinct 

 ideas — unless, to be sure, we are to regard the sense of Fun or 

 Humour as itself an " unerring " instinct, and " mechanical." 

 " Close observers," he here says — and he is right — "cannot fail 

 to be struck by the development of the Humorous in certain 

 classes of animals, which have been for a considerable time in 

 confinement " (preface p. ix) : though all that " confinement " 

 has to do with such development is that it permits of its notice 

 by unobservant man. " There is as much genuine Fun to be 

 got out of a visit to the Zoological Gardens as out of a visit to 

 a dozen of one's most amusing Human friends" (p. x). Having 

 only a tew weeks ago paid two special visits to the Gardens in 

 question,! I can quite endorse the writer's opinion ; and I 

 rejoice that there are some points on which I can cordially 

 agree with him. Nevertheless, it does not follow that animals, 

 which are capable of inspiring a sense of Fun in man, them- 

 selves possess such a sense. Not a few animals, however, are 

 not only full of Fun themselves, but can produce it in, or com- 

 municate it to, man; they are arrant "wags" or practical jokers, 

 enjoying their own jokes, pranks, or play, quite as much as 

 human on-lookers can do. 



My general conclusions as to the value of Am mymous writings 

 on Animal Instinct and Intelligence are as follows : — 



(1.) That many of them are by perfectly competent authors 

 — experienced both in observation and narrative ; in 

 which case, however, there is no good reason for 



+ So far as I know, or have seen, these Gardens are the best in the 

 world, as concerns the collection of animals, and the provision made for 

 their comfort and exhibition ; and I say so after having visited the Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens of Florence, Brussels, Berlin, Dresden, Paris, and other con- 

 tinental cities ; as well as those of Dublin and of Edinburgh,— the latter 

 unfortunately long since defunct. 



