DECEPTION. 533 



Artifice and artfulness, though they do not necessarily 

 imply deception, usually include some of its varied forms. 

 Thus a horse that shammed lameness, showed delight at the 

 success of his artifice (Howitt). 



Certain animals are systematically trained by man in the 

 arts of deception, and become adepts, accomplished, therein, 

 and thereby of the greatest service to man by co-operating 

 with, or acting for, him, for his selfish or nefarious ends. 

 Thus the lurcher (dog) is taught the means of deceiving man 

 so as to become of service in poaching, smuggling and brig- 

 andage. He is fertile in the ' arts ' of escaping detection 

 both as regards his master and himself (Low). And the 

 same occurs in the sheep-stealing collie, when it has been 

 trained as man's accomplice or confederate in nefarious 

 schemes and practices. Again, the decoy elephant syste- 

 matically diverts the attention of wild ones in order to lure 

 them to their capture by man. 



Though many of the deceptions practised by animals are 

 intentional, they do not always or necessarily involve the idea 

 of consciousness or deliberation, of deceiving for a specific 

 purpose or definite end. Thus the parrot, starling, mocking 

 bird, and many other birds, deceive man himself, as well as 

 each other, by the fidelity with which they imitate the voice 

 of man or the cries or notes of other animals. 



But, though they sometimes make these imitations in 

 order to deceive for instance, in their practical jokes they 

 make them also when there is nobody no other animal to 

 deceive, under circumstances, therefore, which do not admit 

 of the supposition of intention to deceive, though a probable 

 motive is their own amusement. This kind of imitation 

 embraces the phenomena of ventriloquism in certain animals, 

 which phenomena, with others that partly belong to the 

 subject of the present chapter, will be found discussed in the 

 chapter on ' Practical Jokes.' 



If we take the trouble to analyse any, even of the simple, 

 acts of deception above described, and still more so, if we 

 select for critical examination those of a more complex cha- 

 racter, such as trained theatrical or pantomimic performances, 

 the mental qualities involved will be found to be not only 



