Higher Instinct. 101 



conflict with man, or when they arc subjected to his 

 control and act under his direction. 



But this instinct in the higher animals mav itself 

 take so wide a range as to be mistaken for intelli- 

 :ice by the casual observer, though just as distinct 

 :n it as the blindest instinct of the lowest tribes. 

 The muskrat burrows in high banks along the rivers, 

 and one who had seen him only in such places would 

 suppose this to be his only mode of life. But if he 

 cannot find banks, then he builds a house of mud 

 and weeds in the open air, upon some stump or 

 knoll, or shallow place in the water. This house, 

 !i for the first time, would strike an observer, 

 who h;i this animal before only among the 



steep banks of rivers, as the work of no mean intel- 

 ligence, adapting itself to new conditions. But 

 that house is built on a specific plan, and is just 

 such in all particulars as all muskrats would build 

 in any part of the world, when shut out for the first 

 time from the high banks in which they had been 

 accustomed to burrow. That house is then the 

 work of instinct ; an instinct that certainly covers 

 two modes of building, and perhaps others. The 

 same thing is undoubtedly true of many animals. 

 Their instinct is not entirely exhausted in its 

 resources by their present condition in life ; and 

 thus, when thrown into new conditions, they often 

 meet them in a manner surprising to us. And 

 therefore we hear of change of instinct, or the 

 development of new instincts. But if the animals 

 are sure always to meet these new conditions in the 



