CRUELTY TO ANIMALS 



and totally inconsistent with morality: sometimes 

 even they are incompatible with the possession of 

 any conscious intelligence. 



The other day there was a great partridge-drive 

 in my neighborhood and it so happened that one 

 bird flew against a telegraph wire with such force 

 that one of its wings was cut cleanly from its 

 body. An exceptionally clever retriever was sent 

 to fetch the bird, and it returned, perfectly satis- 

 fied, with the wing, refusing to go and look for 

 the bird again. 



Now, here was a manifest instance of the natu- 

 ral instinct satisfied by the acquisition of a mouth- 

 ful of feathers which had the right smell, ac- 

 companied by complete ignorance of the mean- 

 ing of the whole business. I do not think that an 

 ancestor of man would have been content to come 

 back with a handful of feathers instead of a bird. 



This is only a casual and imperfect illustration 

 of the way in which the most intelligent dog, a 

 creature that we have perhaps accustomed our- 

 selves to treat almost as an equal, will suddenly 

 throw us back to the beginning of all things, by 

 showing that he has not really the faintest notion 

 of the meaning of his own cleverness. 



Yet, on the other hand, there are many moments 

 when those who love animals seem able to read in 



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