NATURE AND NATURAL HISTORY 



to the surface." The bird at such times is a mere 

 automaton, impelled by its inherited memory. No 

 doubt that in the laboratory this habit could be 

 broken up, and a new habit formed in its place. 







One autumn morning just at break of day a friend 

 of mine was sitting in a hemlock-wood beside a little 

 trout-brook, waiting for partridges to begin to move. 

 As he sat there he heard something coming up the 

 stream toward him, splashing in the water and 

 rattling the stones. Presently he saw a raccoon 

 coming up the stream, turning over the stones in 

 the shallow water, and feeding on something be- 

 neath them. What was surprising, the coon turned 

 the stones over with his nose, and not with his 

 paws, as one would have expected. So deft and 

 handy is the coon with his paws, and yet he rooted 

 the stones with his nose like a pig. 







Cowboys tell me that when one of their herd gets 

 mired, and they have to rope it and drag it out, the 

 first impulse of the beast is to gore its rescuers. It 

 has no conception of the service that has been ren- 

 dered it. The mire and the ropes and the rough 

 usage enrage it, and it seeks to avenge itself upon 

 the herdsmen. Just so will a dog or a cat, caught 

 in a trap try to bite the hand that liberates it. 



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