312 MENTAL EVOLUTION IN ANIMALS. 



foot of the pole and close by the pan. The moment the crow 

 stretched out his head, and ere it could secure a mouthful of 

 the interdicted food, the watchful avenger seized the depre- 

 dator by the neck with the rapidity of thought and secured it 

 from doing further mischief. He now began to chatter and 

 grin with every expression of gratified triumph, while the 

 crows flew round, cawing, as if deprecating the chastisement 

 about to be inflicted on their captive com|)anion. The 

 monkey continued for a while to chatter and grin in triumph ; 

 he then deliberately placed the crow between his knees and 

 began to pluck it with the most humorous gravity. When 

 he had completely stripped it, except of the large feathers in 

 the pinions and tail, he flung it into the air as high as his 

 strength would permit, and after flapping its wings for a few 

 seconds, it fell to the ground with a stunning shock. The 

 other crows, which had been fortunate enough to escape a 

 similar castigation, now surrounded it and immediately pecked 

 it to death. The aninml then ascended its pole, and the next 

 time his food was brought, not a single crow approached it." 



I have quoted this case although it sounds well nigh in- 

 credible, not merely because Thompson is a good authority, 

 but because in all its essential details it has been uncon- 

 sciously corroborated by the observations of a friend of my 

 own, viz., the late Dr. W. Bryden, C.B. This gentleman, 

 without being cognizant of the above anecdote, told me that 

 he had himself repeatedly witnessed a tame monkey (I forget 

 the species) in India lying on its back perfectly motionless 

 for long periods of time, till the crows in the neighbourhood, 

 supposing him to be dead, approached within grasping dis- 

 tance, when he used to make a sudden spring at one of them, 

 and proceed slowly to pluck it alive, apparently for the mere 

 love of gratifying his passion of cruelty — although, however, 

 he used to suck the juicy ends of the larger feathers. As I can 

 quite rely on Dr. Bryden's veracity and cannot imagine how 

 in such a case there can have been any room for malobserva- 

 tion, I am inclined to lend a credence to the above anecdote 

 which I should otherwise have regarded with distrust. 



Now if, as I can scarcely doubt from Dr. Bryden's account, 

 some monkeys display the remarkable trick of really and of 

 set purpose shamming death, the only possible explanation of 

 the fact is that, having observed crows to congregate round 

 motionless carcasses, they infer that by remaining motion- 



