122 OMENSETTER : 



animal quietly submitted to being tied in the evening, but 

 when everybody was asleep he used to slip his collar, worry 

 the sheep, and, returning before dawn, again get into his 

 collar to avoid suspicion. The method of procedure, noted 

 by two English observers, has been corroborated by Delaware 

 County farmers : — " And here let me ask if you are aware of 

 the cunning and sagacity of these sheep-killing dogs, that 

 they never kill sheep on the farm to which they belong, or in 

 the immediate vicinity, but often go miles away ; that they 

 always return before daylight, and before doing so wash 

 themselves in some stream to get rid of the blood ? ' ' 



As an example of the reasoning of Esquimaux dogs in 

 the presence of possible danger, Darwin, in his " Descent of 

 Man," quotes Dr. Hayes, who in his work on "The Open 

 Polar Sea," repeatedly remarks that his dogs, instead of con- 

 tinuing to draw the sledges in a compact body, diverged and 

 separated when they came to thin ice, so that their weight 

 might be more evenly and widely distributed. This was often 

 the first warning which the travelers received that the ice was 

 becoming thin and dangerous. Mr. Darwin observes, "This 

 instinct may possibly have arisen since the time long ago, 

 when dogs were first employed by the natives in drawing their 

 sledges ; or the Arctic wolves, the parent stock of the Esqui- 

 maux dog, may have acquired an instinct impelling them not 

 to attack their prey in a close pack when on thin ice." 



Nor are the mental attainments of some of the feathered 

 tribe to be passed with diffidence. Probably our most acute 

 species is the common crow. "The wariness and distrust 

 which the crow evinces are strangers to its nature and have 

 only been developed by the long and bitter persecution to 

 which it has been subjected. In some localities the happiness 

 of its existence is considerably marred by the extreme and 

 constant vigilance which has to be kept up in view of the 

 dangers to which it is exposed, and by the new mental attain- 

 ments which have to be acquired in order to adapt the condi- 

 tions of life to environing circumstances. In regard to the 



