28 EXAMPLES OF THE RESEMBLANCE 



he brought back the bone, and laid it at her 

 feet ; when, with the restoration of the stolen 

 property, he resumed his cheerful manner. 

 Now, how can we interpret this conduct of the 

 dog, unless we suppose that he was aware he 

 had done amiss, and that the evil doing preyed 

 on him till he had made restitution ? Even 

 in animals most under the influence of pure 

 instinct, we often see adaptation of means to 

 ends, under new circumstances, very like the 

 prompting of reason. A pair of swallows have 

 constructed their nest under the eaves of my 

 dressing-room window. On their arrival, they 

 generally find it broken into and used by the 

 house-sparrow, which breeds earlier in the 

 spring than the swallow. If the weather be 

 favourable for repairing it, they immediately 

 undertake the work ; but, if otherwise, if it 

 be a time of drought, when it may be difficult 

 to find moist clay, or, could it be found, to use 

 it advantageously, they do not attempt the 

 repair, but wait patiently for the first rains and 

 damp weather ; which being come, they no longer 

 procrastinate. Animals, we know, are capable 

 of a certain degree of education ; the ape, the 

 bear, the dog, the horse, afford good examples. 



