REASONABLE BUT UNREASONING 



having learned that it was probably our lost duck, 

 our neighbor set out to capture it by the use of corn, 

 and finally succeeded. He then clipped one wing 

 and turned it loose. The drake, failing in his efforts 

 to fly, was a changed bird; disaster made him think 

 of home, and the next day at twilight he turned his 

 steps thitherward. He came slowly laboring up the 

 hill, very silent and humble, and allowed himself to 

 be picked up. It was hardly the return of a prodi- 

 gal, but it was the coming back of a humbled and 

 disappointed wanderer. 



m 



Animal conduct parallels human conduct in 

 many particulars, but to say that it is the result 

 of the same mental processes is, I believe, to make a 

 capital mistake. Why, inorganic nature often seems 

 to copy human methods, too, as, for instance, in a 

 natural bridge. Behold on what sound mechanical 

 principles the rude arch or span is built up ! Shall 

 we therefore ascribe the faculty of reason to the 

 rocks ? Or behold how the mountain-walls are but- 

 tressed, the overhanging cliff supported — it is all 

 good engineering. In nature such things are the 

 inevitable result of irrefragable mechanical laws; 

 with the lower animals they are the result of in- 

 stinct; with man they are the result of reason. 



I notice that when the phoebe-bird builds her 

 nest on the steep surface of a ledge, she begins like 

 193 



