216 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



that the scamper is not likely to become a fait 

 accompli. 



Again, you have been accustomed to throw a stick 

 for your dog to run after and carry back to you. You 

 are out walking accompanied by your dog ; he espies 

 a stick lying on the ground ; at once images of previous 

 enjoyable runs after the stick rise up in his mind ; he 

 picks up the stick and brings it to you, drops it at your 

 feet and looks up at you. You pretend to take no 

 notice. The dog then picks up the stick and rubs it 

 against your legs. To believe that the dog while acting 

 thus does not think, that he is merely obeying an inborn 

 instinct, is surely a misinterpretation of facts. Animals 

 have but limited reasoning powers, and their thoughts 

 are not our thoughts, they are not clothed in language, 

 they are merely mental pictures, called up either sub- 

 jectively, as when a dog barks while dreaming, or 

 objectively by some sight or scent, but nevertheless 

 such sensations are thoughts. 



While maintaining that the higher animals can and 

 do think, I am ready to admit that a great many of 

 their actions which are apparently guided by reason are 

 in reality purely instinctive. Thus the building of a 

 nest by a bird must, at any rate on the first occasion, 

 be a purely instinctive action. The creature cannot 

 know what it is doing. Nor can it have any thoughts 

 on the matter ; it suddenly becomes an automaton, 

 a machine, acting thoughtlessly and instinctively. 



Some internal force which is irresistible compels it to 

 seek twigs and weave them into a nest. The bird has 

 no time to stop and think what it is doing, nor does it 



