A CHAPTKR ON INSTINCT. 155 



same cause, has afTorded such abundant opportunities of observing his 

 ways, numberless are the true and genuine accounts which establish his 

 claim to a high place in the animal world. 



"With respect to the Dog," says the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, '/so many 

 are the tales on record, which would amply serve our purpose, that one 

 is at a loss to choose from them. I will, however, instead of selecting 

 from any that may be already before the public, rather mention one or 

 two instances which have occurred under my own observation, or have been 

 narrated to me by a late officer of the Indian army, who was fully assured 

 of the entire truth of his narrative. To begin: I was one day fishing in 

 the Wye, accompanied by a Scotch terrier, the property of a neighbouring 

 clerical friend. While I was engaged in my pursuit, Pepper was busy 

 hunting a narrow bed of reeds just below me. In a few moments I heard 

 the plunge of a water-rat, which he had disturbed. I listened for the 

 plunge of the dog, but, to my surprise — for I knew him by no means 

 slack in the pursuit of such game — it did not follow. I turned to see the 

 reason, and it was at once apparent. The dog had, the moment the rat 

 plunged, gone four or five yards down the bank; and there he stood at 

 the edge of the water, one foot up, ready to dash upon his victim the 

 moment it appeared at or near the surface. In another second I saw him 

 make his spring, and a few moments later he was at my feet with the 

 dead rat in his mouth. 



Now surely we cannot say that the dog acted thus by instinct. We 

 cannot say he acted Svithout intelligence,' S'ithout any view to consequences,' 

 'without knowing for what end or purpose he acted,' or even 'without 

 deliberation,' and 'independently of experience.' For why did he not dash 

 into the water in instant pursuit? Why did he not run up-stream in- 

 stead of in the contrary direction? Why, because he must have judged 

 of 'self-evident things,' and 'drawn conclusions from them,' viz., that in 

 the water the rat would very likely elude him, — that the rat tvould not 

 swim against, hut with, a tolerably strong current, — that the rat must 

 emerge some little way down stream therefore,— and that, if he went down 

 to be ready, he would be sure to capture his prey; this being the end 

 and motive of the action of his in question. 



I might mention several other instances of sagacity, as they are generally 

 called, presented in the actions of this same dog. But I will rather go 

 on to one performed by another — a retriever, to use the name given in 

 [sporting phrase. His master was shooting in a preserve in Norfolk, which, 

 Hike multitudes in some parts of that county, was surrounded by a kind 

 fof earthen or turfen wall, with holes or mouses cut at intervals at the 

 bottom of the wall, to allow of the free exit and ingress of the game. 

 |The sportsman shot at and wounded a hare, which, however, contrived to 



