528 DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF INTELLIGENTIAL ACTIONS. 



tioned ( 717), we find individual animals "learning wisdom 

 by experience," and acquiring the power of performing actions 

 which do not correspond with their natural instincts, we 

 cannot do otherwise than regard them as possessed of a certain 

 degree of Intelligence, by which they are rendered susceptible 

 of education. 



695. The amount of Intelligence displayed in such acquire- 

 ments, can only be judged-of, however, by carefully examining 

 the circumstances under which they are made. If the new 

 habits are gained like the talking of a Parrot by imitation 

 simply, no great degree of intelligence is manifested ; but if 

 it spontaneously result from a reasoning process on the part 

 of the animal, our idea of its sagacity is raised. There may 

 be a combination of both these conditions ; as in the following 

 curious circumstance, related to the Author by a friend who 

 has repeatedly witnessed it. Some horses kept in a paddock 

 were supplied with water by a trough, which was occasionally 

 filled from a pump, not, however, as often as the horses 

 seem to have wished ; for one of them learned, of his own 

 accord, to supply himself and his companions, by taking the 

 pump-handle between his teeth, and working it with his 

 head. The others, however, appear to have been less clever, 

 or more lazy ; and finding that this one had the power of sup- 

 plying their wants, they would teaze him, by biting, kicking, 

 &c., until he had pumped for them, and would not allow him 

 to drink until they were satisfied. That this was not a mere 

 act of imitation, appears from the circumstance that the horse 

 did not attempt to imitate the movement of the man, but 

 performed the same action in a different manner, evidently 

 because it had associated in its mind the motion of the pump- 

 handle with the supply of water. 



696. The Instincts of Animals may be shown to have 

 immediate reference, probably in every instance, to the supply 

 of the wants of the individual, or to the continuance of the 

 race. Thus we have Instincts which guide in the selection 

 and acquirement of food ; others which govern the construc- 

 tion of a habitation for the individual, and of a receptacle for 

 the eggs, and these may influence a number at once, in such 

 a manner as to unite them into a society ; and others which 

 direct their migrations, whether in search of food, for the 

 deposit of their eggs, or for other purposes. Of these, some 

 examples will now be given. 



