438 USE OF MAN'S INSTRUMENTS. 



order to plunder them distracting their attention, and 

 meanwhile, for example, stealing from the dinner trays they 

 may have set down, or the dinner tables they may have left 

 unguarded, in their haste and unsuspiciousness. A lodge- 

 keeper has trained his poodle to ring a given bell by pulling 

 a rope whenever a carriage comes in sight, whereby its 

 master is warned in due time to have the gate opened 

 (< Animal World 5 ). 



Moreover, the cat and the dog in various ways answer 

 or attend to man's bells or bell-ringing : they know what 

 they signal, and act accordingly the dinner signal or bell 

 being naturally that which meets with promptest attention 

 and excites liveliest interest. But not second to it in many 

 cases is the door bell and the ring that announces, or is 

 supposed to announce, the home-coming from business or 

 a journey, from church or shopping, of some much-loved 

 master or mistress. 



A dog, swimming to a ship, had a rope with a noosed end 

 thrown to it by friendly sailors. The sagacious animal first 

 got its fore paws, then its head and chest, and lastly its 

 body, fairly into the noose, and was thus hoisted safely on 

 board. But in carrying ropes to or from vessels at sea, in 

 cases of shipwreck or otherwise, the dog usually tows the 

 rope by means of its mouth holding it firmly between its 

 teeth. On board ship the tame chimpanzee can handle 

 ropes like a sailor (Houzeau). 



Berkeley gives an amusing instance of the use of hammer 

 and nails by a monkey. In the absence of its master it got 

 access to his amateur workshop, and used a hammer and 

 nails, on which it laid hold, in the way it had seen its 

 master use them. c He (the monkey) nailed everything on. 

 the long table and about the room together, without refer- 

 ence to colour, sort, or size, and grinned his satisfaction 

 when he saw his kind master taken by surprise.' 



Certain generalisations in connection with the use by the 

 lower animals of tools or weapons are here desirable. 



In the first place, these animals are given to select that 

 instrument which is at once most accessible, nearest at 

 hand, and most suitable for their purpose. Of other animals 



