18 DATS OUT OF DOORS. 



and occasional demoniacal grin. The water was too deep 

 for it to run rapidly upon the ground, and too weedy to 

 allow it to swim with ordinary speed. Its alternated 

 efforts to effect escape in either way were extremely lu- 

 dicrous. I think it soon saw the utter hopelessness of 

 averting the supposed danger by such means, hence the 

 bold face that it put on from time to time. 



In this case, as in many another, despair led to des- 

 peration, and reckless bravery became the impelling force. 

 As the timid bird will unhesitatingly attack its most dan- 

 gerous foe in defense of its mate or -young, so mammals 

 like the musk-rat show absolutely no fear at times when 

 their ordinary means of defense or of escaping danger are 

 evidently of no avail. If we study almost any of our 

 higher animals under such conditions, the evidence that 

 their thought-power is really considerable when roused to 

 its extreme of action is very apparent, and often stands 

 them successfully in need. Either this, or, like the stupid 

 opossum, they are overcome with fear, and so through 

 mental weakness fall a victim where more intelligent ani- 

 mals might escape. I have seen a flying squirrel, when 

 surprised by a cat, throw itseK into every conceivable po- 

 sition, and change from one to another with such rapidity, 

 uttering sharp cries all the while, that the cat was not 

 only bewildered, but actually so alarmed as to beat a hasty 

 retreat. Here, indeed, fear led the squirrel slightly beyond 

 the bounds of reason, as the violent efforts continued for 

 a few seconds after the danger was over. The effect of 

 this was not, as might be thought, to seriously affect the 

 squirrel's nervous system or result in fatal collapse. After 

 a brief rest the plucky little fellow was able to climb to a 

 high branch of a tree, and from it fly to its nest in an- 

 other, some distance off. 



It may be claimed that this was purely hysterical and 

 meaningless ; it appeared to me at the time, and I still re- 



