INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. 



85. In the low estimate of intelligence assigned by Cuvier to the 

 beaver, other naturalists concur. "All agree," says Buffon, "that 

 this animal, far from haying an intelligence superior to others, as 

 would necessarily be the case if his architectural skill were ad- 

 mitted to be the result of such a faculty, appears, on the contrary, 

 to be below most others in its individual qualities. It is an 

 animal, gentle, tranquil, familiar ; of plaintive habits, without 

 violent passions or strong appetites. "When confined it is im- 

 patient to recover its liberty, gnawing from time to time the bars 

 of its cage, but doing so without apparent rage or precipitation, 

 and with the sole purpose of making an opening by which it may 

 get out. It is indifferent ; shows no disposition to attachment, 

 and seeks neither to injure nor to please those around it. It seems 

 made for neither obedience nor command, nor even to have com- 

 merce with its kind. The spirit of industry which it displays 

 when assembled in troops, deserts it when solitary. It is deficient 

 in cunning, without even enough of distrust to avoid the most 

 obvious snares spread for it; and, far from attacking other 

 animals, it has not the courage or skill to defend itself." 



86. The pursuit of the beaver has been prosecuted to such an 

 extent in Canada, that the animal has been nearly exterminated 

 there, and more recently the trappers have been obliged to extend 

 their excursions in search of them to the sources of the Arkansas, 

 in the Rocky Mountains. The snare or trap used for catching the 

 animal is similar to that used for foxes and polecats. The 

 trappers, who make their excursions in caravans for mutual pro- 

 tection against the attacks of the Indians, acquire such skill, that 

 they discern at a glance the track of the animal, and can even tell 

 the number which occupy the hut. They then set their traps at a 

 few inches below the surface of the water, and connect them by 

 chains to the trunk of a tree, or to a stake planted strongly in the 

 bank. The bait consists of a young twig of willow, stripped of 

 its bark, the top rising to five or six inches above the surface of 

 the water. The twig has been previously steeped in a sort of 

 docoction made from the buds of poplar, mint, camphor, r and 

 sugar. The beaver, being gifted with a fine sense of smell, [is 

 attracted by the odour, and in touching the twig he disengages 

 the detent of the trap and is caught. 



87. The social instinct is not so common among birds as 

 with mammifers, nevertheless some remarkable examples of 

 it are found, among which may be mentioned a species of 

 sparrow called the republican, which lives in numerous flocks 

 in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope. These birds 

 construct a roof (fig. 23), under which the whole colony build 

 their nests. 



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