520 COMMISSION OF EEEOR. 



the farmer and placed in his grain-field, as an intended de- 

 terrent to crows, or other birds. The effigy is efficient, or 

 the reverse, in proportion to its artistic execution, its like- 

 ness to man. Dead, or stuffed birds are used for a similar 

 purpose ; but neither in the case of the human effigy, nor 

 of the dead animal, is the intended deterrent uniformly 

 successful. For there are always bold or inquisitive birds 

 that cautiously venture on investigation, and thereby speedily 

 convince themselves of the innocuousness of the scarecrow, 

 whatever be its nature. 



Models of animals modelled imitations of animals of 

 whatever kind give rise to the same kind of mistakes. 

 The most familiar forms of such models and of such mistakes 

 are to be found in the apparatus of the angler, in his arti- 

 ficial bait, fish and flies. The salmon, trout, and other fish, 

 in accepting the sportsman's artificial minnow, or fly, fail 

 to distinguish between the imitation and the reality, the 

 artificial and the natural ; perhaps because of haste or 

 greed giving no chance to powers of observation and inves- 

 tigation. 



Wood mentions a dog that assaulted a pasteboard cat, 

 and became much ashamed of its mistake ; and in another 

 chapter we have seen what a bitch did with an india-rubber 

 toy, fashioned in the likeness of a pup. A monkey that 

 mistook a toy snake, a mere painted model, or imitation of a 

 very rude kind, for a real one, in its terror, nearly drowned 

 itself (Cassell). Other monkeys have been quite paralysed 

 with terror at the sight of a stuffed adder. A correspondent 

 of ' Nature ' describes the effect of presenting a stuffed leo- 

 pard to a pet monkey. * It would scream with terror, shut 

 its eyes, and hide away in my friend's coat. On touching it 

 with the claws, its terror was piteous. On removing the 

 leopard it would slowly peep out, and on catching sight of it 

 close its eyes tight.' . 



The representations of the living reality may be inani- 

 mate, and far-fetched; but in the absence of any keen 

 observation, or of any examination, or reflection, on the part 

 of the animal deceived, such an imitation may be quite as 

 successful as the original, in producing a given result. Thus 



