AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



153 



insect world are carried on; as in the case of the Beaver in 

 the construction of his dam and hut. In the higher orders of 

 animals, indeed, we lose sight of the more astonishing dis- 

 plays of science which abound in some of the inferior tribes, 

 as in insects; — as if to mark that such science is not the con- 

 scious property of the brute nature. Thus the Mammalia 

 appear to be more particularly the subjects, in which a mo- 

 ral intelligence is operative, and thus are capable of being 

 rendered more immediately instrumental to the moral uses 

 to which many species of them are directed by man: where- 

 as the insect tribes appear to be more particularly the sub- 

 jects in which a scientific intelligence is displayed; I say 

 more particularly, because the agencies in all cases are evi- 

 dently both moral and scientific, although operating diverse- 

 ly, so as to produce the appearance of such distinction; for in 

 every case the influent agency must be moral as regarding 

 the end; and scientific as regarding the means; and in the 

 lai'ger quadrupeds, the eifects of moral intelligence are as 

 finely illustrated by the Horse, the Elephant, the Camel, 

 and the Dog, as are the effects of scientific intelligence in 

 the operations of insects. In every case in which science 

 is displayed in the actions of quadrupeds, it is evidently, as 

 respects the creatures, as much above any conscious percep- 

 tion of their own, as it is in the case of insects: — in this 

 respect the Bee and the Beaver are both on a par, and it 

 would be unreasonable to concede a perception of science to 

 the latter, and at the same time to deny it to the former. 

 Neither does the Dog possess any advantage over the Bee 

 or the Beaver in this respect; the instinctive science he 

 displays in the chase is evidently not objectively reflected 

 upon by him, which is manifest from the fact that his ordi- 

 nary nature is not at all elevated or refined by any percep- 

 tions or conclusions which would result from the view of 

 his acute instinctive discriminations. The Dog, as we all 

 know, is a keen and clever sportsman; but if, in this case, 

 his discriminations were the result of reflection, — if he had 

 the power of consciouslj' reflecting in himself, at the time of 

 the chase, on what was proper to be done, and on the best 

 means of procedure; and if this power were not derived 

 from some hidden principle of impulse, acting upon his con- 

 scious nature, he would have the power to reflect, subse- 

 quently, both upon the means and the action, the whole of 

 which would thus be made the object of his proper reflec- 

 tion. He would thus be able to take an intellectual view 

 of the chase, and of his own peculiar capabilities; the door 

 of analysis would be opened to him; and, contrary to the 

 fact, he would thus advance at least one step in the scale of 

 intellect. If, however, we admit, — what seems to accord 

 alike with reason and with fact — that his conscious mind 

 must have been, in this exercise of his instinct, impressed 

 by an agency above it, no such consequence as that alluded 

 to would follow, from the most wonderful display of adroit- 

 Qq 



ness and discrimination. The impression ceasing or subsid- 

 ing with the requirement, would leave him precisely where 

 it found him; and accordingly we find, that the Hound, who 

 displays the most consummate skill and manojuvre in the 

 chase, remains stationary, and does not ascend into the scale 

 of intellectual consciousness; nor can he, as to intellectual 

 superiority, be ranked above the contemned and undignified 

 Cur. 



The incongruities in the actions of brutes, afibrd again 

 striking proofs, that they act under the operation of an in- 

 telligence superior to the plane of their proper perception; 

 and which, if we consider it as afiecting them through a 

 limited channel, by particular impressions on their con- 

 scious faculties, will account for the wonderful operations 

 performed by many of them, who are not in any wise re- 

 markable for their general sagacity; whose traits of perfec- 

 tion are circumscribed by an exceedingly narrow limit, and 

 which are yet, within that limit, truly astonishing. "With 

 what caution does the hen provide herself a nest in places 

 unfrequented and free from noise and disturbance? When 

 she has laid her eggs in such a manner that she can cover 

 them, what care does she take in turning them fre- 

 quently that all parts may partake of the vital warmth? 

 When she leaves them to provide for her necessary suste- 

 nance, how punctually does she return before they have 

 time to cool, and become incapable of producing an animal? 

 In the summer you see her giving herself greater freedoms, 

 and quitting her care for above two hours together, but in 

 winter, when the rigour of the season would chill the prin- 

 ciples of life and destroy the young one, she grows more 

 assiduous in her attendance, and stays away but half the 

 time. When the birth approaches, with how much nicety 

 and attention does she help the chick to break its prison; 

 not to notice her covering it from the injuries of the wea- 

 ther, providing it proper nourishment, and teaching it to 

 help itself; nor to mention her forsaking the nest, if, after 

 the usual time of reckoning, the young one does not make 

 its appearance. A chemical operation could not be followed 

 with greater art and diligence than is seen in the hatching 

 of a chick; though there are many other birds that show an 

 infinitely greater sagacity in all the fore-mentioned particu- 

 lars. 



" But, at the same time, the hen that has all this seeming 

 ingenuity, (which is indeed absolutely necessary for the 

 propagation of the species,) considered inother respects, is 

 without the least glimmerings of thought or common sense. 

 She mistakes a piece of chalk for an egg, and sits upon it in 

 the same manner: she is insensible of any increase or dimi- 

 nution in the number of those she lays: she does not distin- 

 guish between her own and those of another species, and 

 when the birth appears, of never so difierent a bird, will 

 cherish it for her own. In all these circumstances, which 



