VI ANIMAL TRAINING AND INTELLIGENCE 1 59 



orders of these, such as fishes, amphibians, and 

 reptiles. Examples of all these have been made 

 pets, and taught some very simple actions ; but 

 the so-called performing serpents of the circus 

 are not so really, simply submitting to be put 

 through certain motions in the hands of their 

 keepers. The South American anaconda seems 

 to be more amenable than any other snake to in- 

 struction, really amounting in some cases to a 

 trained obedience. 



Birds open to view a much wider range of men- 

 tal capability. Sportsmen need not be reminded 

 by me of the accurate way in which hawks are 

 trained by falconers, and cormorants are employed 

 to bring in fish. Here the natural habits of the 

 birds are controlled at man's behest ; but the edu- 

 cation of some small birds has led them far be- 

 yond the range of their natural exertions and 

 aptitudes. Such are the performances of canary 

 birds and other trained finches, which equal, in 

 the mental adaptiveness and grasp implied, those 

 of most of the four-footed performers of the menag- 

 erie. These birds will tumble like gymnasts, will 

 draw tiny carriages, discharge firearms at one 

 another, drop down in pretence of death, and do 

 many other diverting feats. They will even sub- 

 mit to be handled by the clown's dogs and cats, 

 showing no fear of these, their ancient ogres. 



Though finches are usually selected for this 

 kind of training, there seems no reason why a 



