THE ANIMAL MIND 



least. She acted like a rational being, she seemed 

 at last to have got it into her head that the nest was 

 no longer in the old place, and that she must look 

 about her. I do not say that this is the true expla- 

 nation of her conduct; it is rather putting one's self 

 in her place. But how long it took the birds to 

 break out of the rut of habit ! It did not seem as if 

 their intelligence were finally influenced; but as if 

 their instincts had become discouraged or fatigued. 

 They were not convinced, they were baffled. Of 

 course you cannot convince an animal as you can a 

 person, because there is no reason to be convinced, 

 but you can make an impression, you can start the 

 formation of a new habit. See the caged animal try 

 to escape, or the tethered one try to break its tether, 

 how long the struggle continues ! A rational be- 

 ing would quickly be convinced, and would desist. 

 But instinct is automatic, and the reaction con- 

 tinues. When the animal ceases its struggles, it is 

 not as the result of a process of ratiocination, 

 " this cage or this chain is stronger than I am, there- 

 fore I cannot escape," but because the force of 

 instinct has spent itself. Man, too, is more or less 

 the creature of habit, but the lower animals are 

 almost entirely so. Only now and then, as in the 

 case of the mother bluebird, is there a gleam of 

 something like the power of free choice. 



Animal intelligence is like the figures and de- 

 signs made in a casting; it is not acquired or much 

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