IN FIELD AND WOOD 



The cat's action was precisely what yours or mine 

 would have been under the same circumstances. 

 Now, shall we say that she was thinking of her prob- 

 lem as you or I would have been? No, she has no 

 conscious thought at all. Nature thought for her. 

 She was the instrument of an intelligence not her 

 own. She reasoned no more than the clouds reason 

 when they drop rain, or than the roots of a tree rea- 

 son when they go toward the water, or than the vine 

 reasons when it reaches out its tendrils for support. 



All such acts on the part of the animals of prey 

 — stalking, circling, waiting, and the like — show 

 the action of mind; but it is mind below the level of 

 consciousness. The action of the cat was like yours 

 or mine when we do not think what we are doing. It 

 is this power of thought, which knows itseK, and 

 takes account of itself, that constitutes the gulf be- 

 tween man and his brute kindred. 



IV. BIBD-NESTING TIME 

 The other day I sat for an hour watching a pair of 

 wood thrushes engaged in building their nest near 

 "Slabsides." I say a pair, though the female really 

 did all the work. The male hung around and was 

 evidently an interested spectator of the proceeding. 

 The mother bird was very busy bringing and placing 

 the material, consisting mainly of dry maple leaves 

 which the winter had made thin and soft, and which 

 were strewn over the ground all about. How pretty 

 267 



