io 4 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



they incurred similar failures and accidents. There 

 is no doubt that the great difficulty of the second 

 stage of their acquirement of the art was to learn how 

 to climb down again. Some climbing animals have 

 even now not learnt to come down properly, though 

 adepts at going up. The bear always descends a 

 vertical trunk " stern foremost," just as a man does ; 

 so do some of the opossums, the racoon (generally), 

 and the domestic cat, though a leopard will run down 

 a vertical trunk with no more hesitation than a nut- 

 hatch would show. A frightened cat will run up 

 into a position from which it cannot descend at all, 

 either among the small branches of a tree or on 

 buildings. 



In the same way a cocker spaniel belonging to the 

 writer once followed him unnoticed up a ladder 

 leading on to the roof of a high building. The end 

 of the ladder stuck up for some feet above the level 

 of the roof, and when poor Jessie reached the top 

 she remained there, almost paralysed with fear, 

 unable to turn back, and afraid to jump between 

 the rungs on to the leads. Her terrified yelps soon 

 drew attention to her position, but of course she had 

 to be carried down the ladder that she had so readily 

 ascended. 



Lateral movement among trees is for all animals a 

 far more difficult feat than vertical ascent or descent. 

 Unless the boughs of one tree touch those of another, 

 the creature must learn to jump, with the certainty 

 of a fall if it misses, either on alighting or in " taking 

 off." The "take off" is, we believe, the main diffi- 



