The Squirrel's Thrift 



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rule, to go accustomed rounds and repeat acts 

 and operations in precisely the same way, the 

 intelligent recognition of which is the secret of 

 the good hunter's success. 



.... Use and habit are powers 

 Far stronger than passion in this world of ours, 



even among the wild rangers of the woods and 

 fields. Hence the habit of seeking the same 

 place, for an often-recurring necessity or func- 

 tion is quickly confirmed. Wild horses and the 

 African rhinoceros, for example, are said to go 

 daily to certain spots to leave their dung until 

 a large heap forms. I have observed that dogs 

 in the country have a similar regularity. 



If this tendency is well marked in animals 

 more or less nomadic, and whose residence in a 

 locality is temporary, how much stronger and 

 more noticeable will it be in the case of an 

 animal with a permanent abiding-place, as a 

 resident bird like the fishhawk, eagle, or rook, 

 whose nests are occupied year after year as 

 well as more or less continuously between breed- 

 ing seasons. In the British rook, for example, 



