HUMAN TRAITS IN THE ANIMALS 



could not find her way back to that minute spot in 

 the field where her nest is made, a feat quite im- 

 possible to you or me, so indistinguishable to our 

 eye is that square inch of ground in which her hole 

 is made ; or if the fur seal could not in spring re- 

 trace its course to the islands upon which it breeds, 

 through a thousand leagues of pathless sea water, 

 how soon the tribe of each would perish ! 



The animal is, like the skater, a marvel of skill in 

 one field or element, or in certain fixed conditions, 

 while man's varied but less specialized powers 

 make him at home in many fields. Some of the ani- 

 mals outsee man, outsmell him, outhear him, out- 

 run him, outswim him, because their lives depend 

 more upon these special powers than his does ; but 

 he can outwit them all because he has the resource- 

 fulness of reason, and is at home in many different 

 fields. The condor " houses herself with the sky" 

 that she may have a high point of observation for 

 the exercise of that marvelous power of vision. An 

 object in the landscape beneath that would escape 

 the human eye is revealed to the soaring buzzard. 

 It stands these birds in hand to see thus sharply; 

 their dinner depends upon it. If mine depended 

 upon such powers of vision, in the course of time 

 I might come to possess it. I am not certain but 

 that we have lost another power that I suspect the 

 lower animals possess — something analogous to, or 

 identical with, what we call telepathy — power to 

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