i io THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



grass was, on the other hand, their only chance 

 of escape, but they could not know this, their 

 instinct not taking the altered circumstances 

 of the case into account. This may be com- 

 pared with Colonel Williamson's story of 

 the young sambur in long grass, though 

 Professor Lloyd Morgan does not offer the 

 same suggestion of defective scent as an aid 

 to self-preservation. Then, again, we have 

 the well-known case of tame dogs hunting in 

 India, which, though they ought to learn 

 better, never miss a chance of attacking 

 cobras and other dangerous snakes. The 

 manner in which leopards pursue monkeys in 

 trees has been referred to. If the monkeys 

 would take the simple precaution of roosting 

 only in trees with near neighbours, so that, in 

 case of attack, they could jump from one tree 

 to the next, they would seldom be caught by 

 leopards. But they are foolish enough to go 

 to sleep in solitary trees, with the result that 

 escape is impossible, particularly as a couple of 

 panthers sometimes hunt in company, one of 

 them climbing into the tree and scaring the 

 monkeys so that they presently lose their heads 

 and jump to the ground, only to be caught by 

 the ally in waiting at the foot of the tree. 

 Major F. G. Talbot, D.S.O., told me a similar 

 story, in which the fact of a tree standing alone 

 prevented an Indian squirrel from getting away 



