X PREFACE. 



the purpose of definite arrangement to take the animal 

 kingdom in the order presented by zoological classifica- 

 tion, it would be absurd to restrict an inquiry into Animal 

 Psychology by any considerations of the apparently dis- 

 proportionate length and minute subdivision with which 

 it is necessary to treat some of the groups. Anatomically, 

 an ant or a bee does not require more consideration than a 

 beetle or a fly ; but psychologically there is need for as 

 great a difference of treatment as there is in the not 

 very dissimilar case of a monkey and a man. 



Throughout the work my aim has been to arrive at 

 definite principles rather than to chronicle mere inci- 

 dents — an aim which will become more apparent when 

 the work as a whole shall have been completed. Therefore 

 it is that in the present volume I have endeavoured, as 

 far as the nature and circumstances of the inquiry would 

 permit, to suppress anecdote. Nevertheless, although I 

 have nowhere introduced anecdotes for their own sake, I 

 have found it unavoidable not to devote much the largest 

 part of the present essay to their narration. Hence, with 

 the double purpose of limiting the introduction of anec- 

 dotes as much as possible, and of not repeating more 

 than I could help anecdotes already published, I have in 

 all cases, where I could do so without detriment to my 

 main object, given the preference to facts which have 

 been communicated to me by friends and correspondents. 

 And here I may fitly take the opportunity of expressing 

 my thanks and obligations to the latter, who in astonish- 

 ing numbers have poured in their communications during 

 several years from all quarters of the globe. I make this 

 statement because I desire to explain to all my corres- 

 pondents who may read this book, that I am not the less 

 sensible of their kindness because its bounty has ren- 

 dered it impossible for me to send acknowledgments in 



