A BEAVER'S REASON 



one. The doctor is convinced that his mare delib- 

 erately went back to conduct her blind companion 

 over the bridge and down to the salt-Uck. But the 

 act may be more simply explained. How could the 

 mare have known her companion was blind ? What 

 could any horse know about such a disabiUty ? The 

 only thing implied in the incident is the attachment 

 of one animal for another. The mare heard her 

 mate calling, probably in tones of excitement or 

 distress, and she flew back to her. Finding her all 

 right, she turned toward the salt again and was fol- 

 lowed by her fellow. Instinct did it all. 



My own observation of the wild creatures has 

 revealed nothing so near to human thought and 

 reflection as is seen in the cases of the collie and 

 pointer dogs above referred to. The nearest to 

 them of anything I can now recall is an incident 

 related by an English writer, Mr. Kearton. In one 

 of his books, Mr. Kearton relates how he has fre- 

 quently fooled sitting birds with wooden eggs. He 

 put his counterfeits, painted and marked like the 

 originals, into the nests of the song thrush, the 

 blackbird, and the grasshopper warbler, and in no 

 case was the imposition detected. In the warbler's 

 nest he placed dummy eggs twice the size of her 

 own, and the bird proceeded to brood them without 

 the slightest sign of suspicion that they were not of 

 her own laying. 



But when Mr. Kearton tried his counterfeits 

 227 



