212 MIND IN EVOLUTION CHAP. 



the success of two older cats, Teufel and a Persian living 

 in the same house, who turned tumblers over without 

 being shown. 



I tried Jack with this experiment, but it was of no avail, 

 for he applied his nose so vigorously to the bottom of the 

 tumbler, that he knocked it over or pushed it away without 

 the slightest difficulty. On the other hand, a little fox- 

 terrier who visited me one evening behaved in a manner 

 strikingly recalling Tim's performance. 



During three trials, he merely smelt about, or stared in a sur- 

 prised fashion at the vase. At the fourth, he knocked it over. 

 At the fifth, after staring and smelling, he very hesitatingly 

 pawed the top and sides. He then seemed to abandon the enter- 

 prise as too bold, but presently plucked up heart, put his paw out 

 again, and knocked it over. The sixth time, after pawing in- 

 effectually at the side, he knocked it over with a push of his nose 

 near the bottom. The seventh and eighth times he knocked it 

 clean over with his paw, each time after a short pause. The 

 dog's behaviour suggested that he had seen something very sur- 

 prising ; and though he had seen it, did not quite believe in it. 

 It was not the hesitation of an imperfectly formed habit, but at 

 least in appearance rather that of an imperfectly grasped idea. 



(10). Cover. 



A very simple experiment was to see whether a cat 

 would lift a lid to get at food beneath it. Tim learnt this 

 on being shown five times. 



I took a little china tea-pot, and dropped some fish inside before 

 Tim's eyes. At first he pawed hard at it, chiefly at the spout. 

 I lifted the lid, and he clawed out the fish. At the next trial, he 

 pawed at the cover, and pushed with his nose, but had to be 

 shown again. At the next, he made a dash at it as I put the 

 meat in, and helped by this, pawed the cover off. However, at 

 the fourth and fifth trials he failed. At the sixth, I took the 

 cover off two or three times, replacing it. He then pushed it 

 off, and repeated this three times without failure. The next 

 day he seemed at first to have forgotten, but presently succeeded 

 without being shown. When I substituted a larger tea-pot of 

 wholly different appearance, he got off the top at once, and got 

 the meat out without turning it over. 



Jack did this trick without being shown. 



He was in the room while I was teaching the kitten. Whether 

 he was watching, or merely used his common sense, I do not 



