FRIENDSHIP IN ANIMALS 83 



of their own senses, but in a short time they became 

 convinced that this amazing thing had come to pass 

 that these two ill-assorted beings had actually become 

 companions. 



How can we explain it ? The swan, we have seen, 

 was in a state of misery at his isolation and doubtless 

 ready to attach himself to and find a solace in the com- 

 pany of any living creature on land or in the water, and 

 a fish happened to be the only creature there. But 



ow about the trout ? I can only suppose that he got 

 some profit out of the partnership, that the swan when 

 feeding by the margin accidentally fed the trout by 

 shaking small insects into the water, and that in this 

 way the swan became associated with food in what 

 we are pleased to call the trout's mind. The biologist 

 denies that it — the poor fish — has a mind at all, since 

 it has no cortex to its brain, but we need not trouble 

 ourselves with this question just now. I also think it 

 possible that the swan may have touched or stroked 

 the back of his strange friend with his beak, just as one 

 swan would caress another swan, and that this contact 

 was grateful to the trout. Fish have as much delight 

 in being gently stroked as other creatures that wear 

 a skin or scales. I have picked up many " wild worms 

 in woods " and many a wild toad, if wild toads there 

 be, and have quickly overcome their wildness and made 

 them contented to be in my hands by gently stroking 

 them on the back. 



The sequel remains to be told. There came to the 

 Hall a visitor from London, who being a keen angler 



