CHAPTEE IX. 



STUPIDITY. 



IN the countless books that have been written to illustrate 

 the sagacity, the intelligence, or the so-called c instinct ' of 

 the lower animals, much is said of their cleverness. Their 

 feats of skill are largely dwelt upon with the view of show- 

 ing sometimes how much more perfect and wonderful in its 

 achievements is animal instinct than human reason. 



But little, if anything, is said of the stupidity of other 

 animals than man. And yet the alleged stupidity of certain 

 animals is so notorious among men as to be proverbial. 

 Certain supposed-to-be stupid animals are regarded as the 

 emblems, as well as the incarnations or embodiments, of 

 stupidity ; and their very names are applied by man to 

 brother man as bye-words for folly or foolishness. I allude es- 

 pecially to such animals as the booby, noddy, and goose among 

 birds, and the ass (or donkey) among quadrupeds. Before 

 discussing the general subject of stupidity in animals, it is 

 desirable to inquire into the real nature of the alleged stu- 

 pidity in the four animals just mentioned. 



The poor bird that gives its name to the dunces of our 

 schools, to boys, by the way, who by-and-by frequently be- 

 come, as in the well-known case of Sir Walter Scott, burning 

 and shining lights in the firmament of literature, science, 

 or art the booby is simply one of the many bird denizens 

 of oceanic islands or rocks, little, if at all, visited by man, 

 that are, therefore, unacquainted with him as an enemy ; 

 that have not learned by experience to avoid him ; that do 

 not get out of his way, but remain, notwithstanding his pre- 

 sence, placidly on their nests and in their breeding-places, and 



