INTRODUCTION. xxxix 



of successive generations would begin to tell u})on the inherited instinct, so that all 

 the nests in a given locality would attain to a higher grade of excellence. Leroy also 

 states that, when swallows are hatched out too late to migrate with the older birds, the 

 instinct of migration is not sufficiently imperative to induce them to undertake the 

 journey by themselves. They perish the victims of their ignorance, and of the tardy 

 birth which made them unable to follow their parents." 



Among the higher mammals are the true domestic animals, the friends of man, who 

 are caj)able of education and of transmitting striking hereditary traits. Among the 

 Educabilia we find the horse, dog, pig, ox, sheep, llama, dog, cat. Romanes insists that 

 the horse is not so intelligent an animal as any of the larger Carnivora, while among lier- 

 bivorous quadrupeds his sagacity is greatly exceeded by that of the elephant, and in 

 a lesser degree by that of his congener the ass. We question whether any one who 

 has seen K.ii tholomew's " Equine Paradox," the twelve trained horses, will not jilace 

 their intelligence at least as high as that of the pig. Pigs exhibit a degree of intelli- 

 gence which " falls short only of that of the most intelligent Carnivora." Romanes 

 claims that the tricks taught the so-called "learned pig" would alone suffice to show 

 this; "while the marvellous skill with which swine sometimes open latches and fasten- 

 ings of gates, etc., is only equalled by that of tlie cat." 



Among the Carnivora in a wild state, bears claim a high place in tlie psycholog- 

 ical scale; the most astonishing anecdote is one published in "Nature" since the 

 appear.ance of Mr. Romanes' book. The story relates to a Russian bear. "The 

 carcass of a cow was laid out in the woods to attract the wolves, and a spring trap 

 was set. Next morning the forester found there the track of a bear instead of a wolf 

 on the snow ; the tr.ap was tin-own to some distance. Evidently the bear had put his 

 paw in the trap and had managed to jerk it off. The next night the forester hid 

 himself within shot of the carcass, to watch for the bear. The bear came, but first 

 pulled down a stack of firewood cut into seven-foot lengths, selected a piece to his 

 mind, and, taking it up in his arms, walked on his hind legs to the carcass. He then 

 beat about in the snow all round the carcass with the log of wood before he began his 

 meal. The forester put a ball in his head, which I almost regret, as such a sensible 

 brute deserved to live." 



Of the rodents, the m.ajority, as the guinea-pig, hare, rabbit, etc., are low in intelli- 

 gence; the squirrels have however some striking instincts, while the house rat, jier- 

 haps as the result of generations of persecution by man, has shown much intelli- 

 gence ; but the reasoning powers exhibited by the beaver are not only exceptional 

 among rodents, but unique among dumb animals. In his admirable book on the 

 beaver, the late Mr. Lewis H. Morgan thus speaks regarding what he calls the free 

 intelligence of this animal: "The works of the beaver afford many interesting illus- 

 trations of his intelligence and reasoning capacity. Felling a ti'ee to get at its 

 branches involves a series of considerations of a striking character. A beaver seeing 

 a birch tree full of spreading branches, which to his longing eyes seemed quite 

 desirable, maybe supposed to say within himself: 'If I cut this tree through with 

 my teeth it will fall, and then I can secure its limbs for my winter subsistence.' But 

 it is necessary that he should carry his thinking beyond this stage, and ascertain 

 whether it is sufficiently near to his pond, or to some canal connected therewith, to 

 enable him to transport the limbs, when cut into lengths, to the vicinity of his lodge. 

 A failure to cover these contingencies would involve him in a loss of his labor. The 

 several arts here described have been performed by beavers over and over again. 



