WAYS OF NATURE 
fly with a corkscrew motion where it is much fired 
at on the wing. How wary and cautious the fox 
becomes in regions where it is much trapped and 
hunted! Even the woodchuck becomes very wild on 
the farms where it is much shot at, and this wildness 
extends to its young. In his “ Wilderness Hunter” 
President Roosevelt says the same thing of the big 
game of the Rockies. Antelope and deer can be 
lured near the concealed hunter by the waving of a 
small flag till they are shot at a few times. Then they 
see through the trick. “The burnt child fears the 
fire.” Animals profit by experience in this way; they 
learn what not to do. In the accumulation of posi- 
tive knowledge, so far as we know, they make little 
or no progress. Birds and beasts will adapt them- 
selves more or less to their environment, but plants 
and trees will do that, too. The rats in Jamaica have 
learned to nest in trees to escape the mongoose, 
but this is only the triumph of the instinct of self- 
preservation. The mongoose has not yet learned to 
climb trees; the pressure of need is not yet great 
enough. It is said that in districts subject to floods 
moor-hens often build in trees. All animals will 
change their habits under pressure of necessity; man 
changes his without this pressure. The Duke of 
Argyll saw a bald eagle seize a fish in the stream — 
an unusual proceeding; but the eagle was doubtless 
very hungry, and there was no osprey near upon 
whom to levy tribute. 
72 
