Carlile. — Oil Animal IittcUigcncc. 351 



" in spite of ourselves " because, with Dryasdust perversity, we 

 have absokitely, on account of its fascinating character, come 

 to regard it as trivial and contemptible. It is only of quite 

 late years that we have seen an attempt made by a man of 

 science to collect as much authoritative information as he can, 

 in regard to any instances of the display of instinct or of 

 incipient reason in animals, which seem to be worthy of re- 

 mark. Such an attempt is embodied in Professor Eomanes's 

 book entitled " Animal Intelligence," in the International 

 Science Series, and it is a book which can be read with delight 

 from beginning to end even by those who care nothing for the 

 subject from the scientific point of view. 



Any of us who live in the country and keep our eyes open 

 will occasionally have instances analogous to those cited by 

 Professor Eomanes brought under our notice. A fev/ have 

 come under my own, and I hereby " lay them on the table," 

 as they call it in an adjacent building. Probably they may be 

 capped by many equally interesting, or more so, drawn from 

 the recollection of other gentlemen present. 



What Professor Eomanes has to say in regard to marsu- 

 pials is very brief. He considers the kangaroo very low in the 

 scale of intellect, and knows of no fact connected with the 

 psychology of the group worth quoting, except an instance 

 cited from Jesse of a female kangaroo which, when hard- 

 pressed by the dogs, took her young from her pouch and 

 threvv them as far as she could on each side of her. To any 

 one who has done any kangaroo-hunting, another and more 

 common incident of the chase will occur. The kangaroo, 

 especially if he is an " old man," invariably makes straight for 

 water. That I have noticed myself ; and why ? Because 

 there he is master of the situation. When the dogs attack 

 him in a waterhole he can hold them under till they are 

 drowned. I cannot say that I saw a dog drowned, but I had 

 only a few weeks of kangaroo-hunting. The friends with 

 whom I stayed spoke of it as a thing that happened fre- 

 quently, and were alive to the necessity of being on their 

 guard to prevent it. The increased danger in case of the 

 hunted kangaroo being an " old man " is worthy of note. It 

 would be due, perhaps, in part to his strength, but also, per- 

 haps, in part to his experience ; and, if we credit him with 

 the capacity for learning by experience, we must promote him 

 a step or two in the scale of intellect. 



When stayiiig a few years ago at the house of a Hawke's 

 Bay sheepfarmer — Mr. Fleming, of W^anstead — I heard of a 

 circumstance that seems worth recording in connection with 

 the reasoning-powers of the horse. Mr. Fleming breeds 

 horses extensively. In some of the valleys on his property the 

 cabbage-tree is to be found in considerable numbers. It was a 



