evidently to stop the bleeding, and then had 

 covered the broken skin with sticky mud 

 from the river's brink, to keep the flies away 

 from the wound and give it a chance to heal 

 undisturbed. It is noteworthy here that the 

 bear uses either gum or clay indifferently, 

 while the beaver and muskrat seem to know 

 enough to avoid the clay, which would be 

 quickly washed off in the water. 



Here are a few incidents, out of a score 

 or more that I have seen, or heard from reli- 

 able hunters, that indicate something more 

 than native instinct among animals. When 

 I turn to the birds the incidents are fewer 

 but more remarkable; for the birds, being 

 lower in the scale of life, are more subject 

 to instinct than are the animals, and so are 

 less easily taught by their mothers, and are 

 slower to change their natural habits to meet 

 changing conditions. 



This is, of course, a very general state- 

 ment and is subject to endless exceptions. 

 The finches that, when transported to Aus- 

 tralia from England, changed the style of 

 their nests radically and now build in a 



