II. MENTAL TRAITS OF WILD ANIMALS 



VI 



THE BRIGHTEST MINDS AMONG AMERICAN 

 ANIMALS 



WE repeat that the most interesting features of a wild 

 animal are its mind, its thoughts, and the results of its 

 reasoning. Besides these, its classification, distribution 

 and anatomy are of secondary importance; but at the same 

 time they help to form the foundation on which to build the 

 psychology of species and individuals. Let no student make 

 the mistake of concluding that when he has learned an animal's 

 place in nature there is nothing more to pursue. 



After fifty years of practical experience with wild animals 

 of many species, I am reluctantly compelled to give the prize 

 for greatest cunning and foresight in self-preservation to the 

 common brown rat, — the accursed "domestic" rat that has 

 adopted man as his perpetual servant, and regards man's 

 goods as his lawful prey. When all other land animals have 

 been exterminated from the earth, the brown rat will remain, 

 to harry and to rob the Last Man. 



The brown rat has persistently accompanied man all over 

 the world. Millions have been spent in fighting him and the 

 bubonic-plague flea that he cheerfully carries in his offensive 

 fur. For him no place that contains food is too hot or too cold, 

 too wet or too dry. Many old sailors claim to believe that 

 rats will desert at the dock an outward-bound ship that is 

 fated to be lost at sea; but that certificate of superhuman 

 foreknowledge needs a backing of evidence before it can be 

 accepted. 



Of all wild animals, rats do the greatest number of "impos- 



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