354 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



is not of sufficiently general occurrence among all species 

 of rodents to allow us to suppose that the species in which 

 it does occur have derived it from a common ancestry. 



Rabbit. 



Eabbits are somewhat stupid animals, exhibiting but 

 small resources under novel circumstances, although in- 

 heriting several clever instincts, such as that of rapidly 

 deciding upon the alternative of flight or crouching, 

 which is usually done with the best judgment. I have, 

 however, often observed that the animal does not seem to 

 have sense enough to regard the colour of the surface on 

 which it crouches, so that if this happens to be inappro- 

 priate, the rabbit may become conspicuous, and so its 

 crouching a source of danger. I have been particularly 

 struck with the fact that black rabbits inherit the crouch- 

 ing instinct as strongly as do normally coloured ones, with 

 the effect of rendering themselves highly conspicuous. This 

 shows that the instinct is not necessarily correlated with 

 the colour which alone renders the instinct useful, but 

 that both have developed simultaneously and indepen- 

 dently, and by natural selection. The fact also shows that 

 the crouching of rabbits is purely instinctive, and not due 

 to any conscious process of comparing their own colour 

 with that of the surfaces on which they crouch. No 

 doubt the instinct began and was developed by natural 

 selection placing a premium upon the better judgment of 

 those individuals which know when best to seek safety in 

 flight and when by crouching — ^protective colouring being 

 added at the same time by the same agency. 



Another fact, which every one who shoots must have 

 observed, goes to show the stupidity of rabbits, or their 

 inability to learn by experience. When alarmed they run 

 for their burrows, and when they reach them, instead of 

 entering they very frequently squat down to watch the 

 enemy. Now, although they well know the distance at 

 which it is safe to allow a man with a gun to approach, 

 excess of curiosity, or a mistaken feeling of security in 

 being so near their homes, induces the animals to allow a 



