WAYS OF NATURE 
as well as we can, the geologic record. Darwin 
sought to explain the origin of species, and to in- 
terpret many paleontological phenomena. We ac- 
count for animal behavior on rational grounds of 
animal psychology; there is little to interpret. Nat- 
ural history is not a cryptograph to be deciphered, 
it is a series of facts and incidents to be observed 
and recorded. If two wild animals, such as the 
beaver and the otter, are deadly enemies, there is 
good reason for it; and when we have found that 
reason, we have got hold of a fact in natural his- 
tory. The robins are at enmity with the jays and 
the crow blackbirds and the cuckoos in the spring, 
and the reason is, these birds eat the robins’ eggs. 
When we seek to interpret the actions of the ani- 
mals, we are, I must repeat, in danger of running 
into all kinds of anthropomorphic absurdities, by 
reading their lives in terms of our own thinking 
and consciousness. 
A man sees a flock of crows in a tree in a state 
of commotion; now they all caw, then only one 
master voice is heard, presently two or three crows 
fall upon one of their number and fell him to the 
ground. The spectator examines the victim and 
finds him dead, with his eyes pecked out. He in- 
terprets what he has seen as a court of justice; the 
crows were trying a criminal, and, having found 
him guilty, they proceeded to execute him. The 
curious instinct which often prompts animals to fall 
198 
