REASON IN THE DOG. 251 



one into the otlieij that the two can scarcely be 

 severed. 



A remarkable fact happened on my lawn in the 

 month of April, 1872. No wild ducks had ever 

 been reared there, and seldom seen there, and 

 certainly not a duck had been on the lawn since 

 the autumn of the previous year. Every morning, 

 however, summer and winter, the pheasants had 

 been fed, and every morning they were assembled 

 round my door at breakfast-time, awaiting their 

 expected food. At the period to which I refer, 

 on opening the door, there, among the pheasants, 

 witli their eyes and ears fixed on the opening of 

 the latch, sat a couple of wild ducks and a mallard. 

 They showed no sort of timidity at my sudden 

 appearance, but ran to meet me ; and, having filled 

 their crops and even necks so full of Indian corn 

 as to be unable to eat any more, they rose, and, 

 flying immediately up over the house, went off 

 in the direction of the decoy. 



^' Instinct" could not have made these wild ducks 

 seek me in my liome : '' reason" must have told them 

 who it was that kept the food and where they 

 would be sure to find it, and, governed by that 

 reason, then they came. 



