HUMAN TRAITS IN THE ANIMALS 



rubbish she carried to the top of a timber under my 

 porch. But she did not seem to lose her temper. 

 She did not spitefully reclaim the straws and strings 

 that would persist in falling to the porch floors, 

 but cheerfully went away in search of more. So I 

 have seen a wood thrush time after time carrying 

 the same piece of paper to a branch from which the 

 breeze dislodged it, without any evidence of impa- 

 tience. It is true that when a string or a horsehair 

 which a bird is carrying to its nest gets caught in 

 a branch, the bird tugs at it again and again to free 

 it from entanglement, but I have never seen any 

 evidence of impatience or spite against branch or 

 string, as would be pretty sure to be the case did 

 my string show such a spirit of perversity. Why 

 your dog bites the stone which you roll for him 

 when he has found it, or gnaws the stick you throw, 

 is not quite clear, unless it be from the instinct of 

 his primitive ancestors to bite and kill the game 

 run down in the chase. Or is the dog trying to pun- 

 ish the stick or stone because it will not roll or fly 

 for him ? The dog is often quick to resent a kick, 

 be it from man or beast, but I have never known 

 him to show anger at the door that slammed to 

 and hit him. Probably, if the door held him by his 

 tail or his limb, it would quickly receive the imprint 

 of his teeth. 



In reading Bostock on the "Training of Wild 

 Animals," my attention was arrested by the remark 

 131 



