160 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 
variety of other birds would not be as amenable 
to the patient zeal of their educators. A long list 
of birds have been made pets of, but none more 
prettily than the clouds of doves which wheel 
about the head of an éguestrienne as she gallops 
swiftly about the ring of a circus, displaying her 
supple body in graceful attitudes upon the back of 
a beautiful horse. One of the quaintest exhibi- 
tions I ever saw was that of trained geese and 
herons, whose awkward motions made their little 
“act” extremely comical. Could some fancier 
manage to get a company of cranes to execute on 
the stage the extraordinary dances in which these 
and some other birds indulge during the breeding 
season, he would make a decided hit. 
Probably the most satisfactory results of all 
would be obtained from careful tuition of the crow, 
which seems to me to stand at the head of the 
birds in respect to native intelligence; and it is 
curious that so little has been done with him in 
this direction. 
When we come to the quadrupeds, a great field 
is opened to us; but the limits of space require 
me to confine my attention to one branch of their 
association with man, as illustrating their approach 
to him in intellectual power and attributes. Let 
me take, then, the “stars” of the menagerie and 
variety theatre—the “performing animals” of 
the showman. 
Highest of these in general organization stand 
