WAYS OF NATURE 
dence of the ordeal it has passed through. In like 
manner the nature of the animals prompts them to 
the deeds they do, and we think of them as the 
result of a mental process, because similar acts in 
ourselves are the result of such a process. 
See how the mice begin to press into our buildings 
as the fall comes on. Do they know winter is com- 
ing? In the same way the vegetable world knows 
it is coming when it prepares for winter, or the insect 
world when it makes ready, but not as you and I 
know it. The woodchuck “holes up” in late Sep- 
tember; the crows flock and select their rookery 
about the same time, and the small wood newts or 
salamanders soon begin to migrate to the marshes. 
They all know winter is coming, just as much as 
the tree knows, when in August it forms its new 
buds for the next year, or as the flower knows that 
its color and perfume will attract the insects, and 
no more. The general intelligence of nature settles 
all these and similar things. 
When a bird selects a site for its nest, it seems, on 
first view, as if it must actually think, reflect, com- 
pare, as you and I do when we decide where to place 
our house. I saw a little chipping sparrow trying 
to decide between two raspberry bushes. She kept 
going from one to the other, peering, inspecting, and 
apparently weighing the advantages of each. Isawa 
robin in the woodbine on the side of the house try- 
ing to decide which particular place was the best site 
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