Hillside. 163 



into a hollow between two bricks, where the nest was placed, 

 the wad was successfully pulled away. This happened a 

 second time, but on the third and subsequent occasions, the 

 wasp went directly into the hollow, and removed the wad, 

 illustrating beyond question an actual ability to reason and 

 to remember. A certain amount of reasoning power is also 

 exhibited by spiders. The first light touch on a web will 

 cause the spider to rush out to see the cause of the disturb- 

 ance ; a second and a third will generally produce a similar 

 result, but after that, the spider can rarely be tempted to 

 stir, unless a very considerable period of time has elapsed 

 since the last disturbance. 



We all know the wonderful way in which the intelligence 

 of the higher animals may be increased by training ; but 

 even among the lower classes, effects of a similar kind can 

 be produced. Many of us have seen itinerant showmen with 

 troops of trained fleas, which have been taught to march, 

 draw carts, and do other amusing tricks, showing that even 

 such humble creatures are capable of receiving instruction, 

 probably even of thinking. The training of creatures like 

 fleas must be a matter of much greater difficulty than is the 

 process in the case of the higher animals. The following story 

 of the way in which a chaffinch made friends with a gentle- 

 man is told in a recent number of The Feathered World. 



" Some years since, in my garden in Ireland, a chaffinch 

 had made her nest, about five feet and a half from the 

 ground, in a Grloire de Dijon rosebush growing on the path-, 

 way, and trained on an east wall. Twice I had observed her 

 fly from the bush as I approached, and I took no notice, as 

 it did not occur to me there was a nest. On the third 

 occasion I observed her fly out I examined the bush, and 



