264 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



had the many small fishes disappeared than a dozen 

 large white perch made their appearance, and roamed 

 about the clear space above the spring, evidently in sur- 

 prise or disappointment. As plainly as a man might 

 startle a crowd by a cry of "fire" or "murder," that 

 roach informed the fishes that were gathered in the clear 

 waters below me that they must seek safety by flight. 



If such incidents are explained as we would explain 

 similar ones occurring among men, they are wholly in- 

 telligible, but otherwise they are not. Stress has been 

 laid upon memory and experience as the mental condi- 

 tions explaining certain acts of our fishes : that a few 

 cyprinoids, seeing one of their number chased by a 

 pike or perch, and perhaps seized by it, would remem- 

 ber the fact, and ever after, when seeing a fish evi- 

 dently avoiding a foe, would themselves seek safety 

 by flight and concealment. If so, then fishes are 

 far more intelligent than even I consider them to be, 

 and, whether it accords or not with the conclusions 

 of others, makes them far more intelligent than are 

 batrachians. 



Any animal that profits by experience is intelligent, 

 and no one need wonder at its acts, any more than one 

 need wonder at those of a human being. 



It is the beginning of the fourth week of the drought. 

 Not a returning warbler that should be tarrying here be- 

 fore going south has deigned to appear. Scenting the 

 dusty, dried-up country from afar, have they passed over 

 in the night ? These have been so clear that the starlight 

 would, of itself, show them the courses of the rivers. 



