WAYS OF NATURE 



under water, hiding by the shore with only the end 

 of the bill in the air, or diving and seizing upon 

 some object at the bottom, where it sometimes 

 remains till life is extinct. 



I once saw some farm-hands try to capture a 

 fatted calf that had run all summer in a partly 

 wooded field, till it had become rather wild. As 

 the calf refused to be cornered, the farmer shot it 

 with his rifle, but only inflicted a severe wound in 

 the head. The calf then became as wild as a deer, 

 and scaled fences in much the manner of the deer. 

 When cornered, it turned and broke through the 

 line in sheer desperation, and showed wonderful 

 resources in eluding its pursuers. It coursed over 

 the hills and gained the mountain, where it baffled 

 its pursuers for two days before it was run down 

 and caught. All such cases show the resources of 

 instinct, the instinct of fear. 



The skill of a bird in hiding its nest is very great, 

 as is the cunning displayed in keeping the secret 

 afterward. How careful it is not to betray the pre 

 cious locality to the supposed enemy ! Even the do 

 mestic turkey, when she hides her nest in the bush, 

 if watched, approaches it by all manner of delays 

 and indirections, and when she leaves it to feed, 

 usually does so on the wing. I look upon these and 

 kindred acts as exhibiting only the resourcefulness 

 of instinct. 



We are not to forget that the resourcefulness 

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