WAYS OF NATURE 
struction of their young, and how can we account 
for their concerted action? ‘These are difficulties not 
easily overcome. A more rational explanation to 
me is this, namely, that the extreme dryness of the 
woods — nearly two months without rain — drove 
the little frogs to seek for moisture in their spring 
haunts, where in places a little water would be pretty 
certain to be found. Here they were holding out, 
probably hibernating again, as such creatures do in 
the tropics during the dry season, when the rains 
came, and here again they sent up their spring 
chorus of voices, and, for aught I know, once more 
deposited their eggs. This to me is much more like 
the ways of Nature with her creatures than is the 
theory of the frogs’ voluntary return to the swamps 
and pools to start the season over again. 
The birds at least show little or no wit when a 
new problem is presented to them. They have no 
power of initiative. Instinct runs in a groove, and 
cannot take a step outside of it. One May day we 
started a meadowlark from her nest. There were 
three just hatched young in the nest, and one egg 
lying on the ground about two inches from the nest. 
I suspected that this egg was infertile and that the 
bird had had the sense to throw it out, but on ex- 
amination it was found to contain a nearly grown 
bird. The inference was, then, that the egg had 
been accidentally carried out of the nest some time 
when the sitting bird had taken a sudden flight, 
232 
