CANINE INTELLIGENCE 155 



make provision for their wants, and guard against their 

 natural enemies. There may be, and are most probably, 

 some low gradations or degrees of reasoning powers im- 

 parted to dumb creatures, apparently little removed from 

 mind or human intellect, and yet wanting in some of 

 its first essentials, which sanguine people are inclined to 

 interpret as equal to man's sole attribute. The hare is 

 frequently known to retrace her footsteps for some 

 distance, and then spring off with a long bound, at right 

 angles, in another direction. Well, a human being in 

 like circumstances could not devise a more clever mode 

 to escape his pursuers ; but this same hare would run her 

 head into a noose or wire set on the bare downs, rubbing 

 her chin against the very pegs placed thus openly for 

 her destruction. 



Of all animals the dog stands pre-eminent for the 

 exhibition of the greatest degree of instinct, approaching 

 so nearly to reasoning powers that we can scarcely divest 

 ourselves of the idea that he possesses a mind to think, 

 deliberate, and act. But a little consideration of the wide 

 difference between the dog in a wild and in a domesticated 

 state will serve to convince us that the greater part of the 

 reasoning powers assigned to him is derived from the 

 instruction he receives from man, and the close inter- 

 course existing between the dog and his master. 



Even among birds, the parrot, the magpie, and the 

 starhng are taught to speak, the bullfinch to whistle 

 tunes, and the goldfinch and canary to draw water. 

 It would be absurd to say that these birds must possess 

 a mind of reasoning powers to do these things — they 

 are merely imitators or living puppets in the hand of 

 man, with sufficient comprehension to do his bidding. 

 I remember seeing a so-called ** sapient pig," placed in 



