246 The Animal Mind 



a stopper out of a jar with his teeth. The stopper fitted 

 into a large round glass jar, and could be lifted with the 

 teeth by a projecting peg. I lifted it out for him once, and 

 left him to deal with the jar, which he did by knocking it 

 over and rolling it all about the room until the meat was 

 jerked out. At the second trial he pulled at the stopper him- 

 self with his teeth; and he repeated this many times" (177). 

 A cat with which the writer is acquainted stands on his hind 

 legs and touches a door handle with his paw when he wishes 

 to be let out. He has never succeeded in letting himself 

 out by any such method. It is possible that the habit may 

 have been acquired from the fact that the door is sometimes 

 opened for him after he has done so ; but this is by no means 

 always the case. He is often left to mew for some time 

 after he has pawed the handle. There is, then, the pos- 

 sibility that observing human beings open doors may have 

 caused the handle to occupy the focus of his attention; 

 but one's attitude toward this hypothesis should be ex- 

 tremely cautious. 



