INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE I 37 



Dogs, squirrels, and many other animals will hide 

 away food for future use, and thus acquire and hold 

 property. Birds repair broken limbs with as much 

 skill as a human surgeon. When the dear little 

 creatures have their wings and legs splintered and 

 broken by the cruel sportsman, they form, around 

 the fracture, a splint made of feathers plucked from 

 their bodies, mixed with mud or coagulated blood, 

 which resembles a plaster cast, such as surgeons use. 



A horse, when losing a shoe or becoming lame in 

 the foot, will go to a blacksmith shop where he has 

 been shod, in order to receive help. 



A dog, when wounded, will go to a friend 

 for assistance, and if he receives it, will return 

 every day until he is cured. If he chances to find 

 another lame dog, he will take him to the same 

 person for help. 



Thus animals show a power of choice and of de- 

 termination, guided by a perception of the nature 

 of the object to be obtained, and the means to 

 be employed, exhibiting a great degree of the 

 reasoning faculties. They are sensitive to kindness 

 or abuse, and are melancholy or happy according 

 to their environments. 



When we observe the sagacity of a dog, a monkey, 



