INTRODUCTION 



these things by long apprenticeship , but the first web made 

 by a baby spider may be as perfect as any it will spin in the 

 whole of its life. This unconscious memory of how to do 

 things and how to act under various conditions, passed on from 

 one generation to another, is what we mean by "instinct," and 

 instinct is a wonderful thing. There are times when it is not 

 to be distinguished in its effects from reason, as when it con- 

 stantly adapts itself to new conditions : something of the kind 

 we see in the way ants behave when building their chambers 

 and galleries, turning every favourable circumstance to ad- 

 vantage and overcoming many unaccustomed difficulties which 

 arise in the course of their work. At other times instinct 

 appears utterly at fault, as in the case of a certain woodpecker 

 whose habit it is to embed acorns singly in little holes which it 

 cuts in the bark of a tree to receive them, but which often 

 appears to expend its labour to no useful purpose by storing 

 up smooth pebbles in the same manner. Yet even in their 

 mistakes animals do but present one more resemblance to man, 

 and perhaps if the gift of imagination were more common 

 amongst them they would oftener go astray and the likeness 

 would be still greater. 



Nearly all the constructive activities of animals are directed 

 towards self-preservation, or procuring food or shelter for them- 

 selves or their offspring ; their fancy seldom leads them further, 

 but the methods by which they attain their ends are of a 

 wonderful variety a variety infinitely greater than it would 

 be possible to describe in one small volume. The chapters in this 

 little book have been chosen by the Publishers from the Author's 

 larger volume entitled The Romance of Animal Arts and Crafts. 

 Should such examples as they contain help to show how much 

 that is interesting surrounds us wherever we go, if we only care 

 to see it; should they aid even in a small degree towards a greater 

 love of animals and a desire to observe and understand their 

 ways, they may, perhaps, add a little to the romance wherein 

 lies much of the happiness of life. 



JOHN LEA. 



