xxviu INTRODUCTION 



No; even the higher animals are not yet as wise as human 

 beings. In matters involving intelligence, such as in the treatment 

 of wounds, or disease, below the higher Primates there is not more 

 than one out of every hundred which has sense enough to compre- 

 hend a relief measure, or which will not fight the surgeon to the 

 utmost. Some apes do indeed learn to be doctored; but there are 

 many which never grasp the idea, and fight until they die. Of 

 mammals generally, not more than one out of every hundred will 

 permit a bandage to remain on a broken leg when they have the 

 power to tear it off. "Animal surgery," indeed! 



In the matter of disposition, wild mammals and birds are no 

 more angelic than human beings. In every family, in every herd, 

 and in every cage, from tigers to doves, the strong bully and oppress 

 the weak and drive them to the wall. Of all quadrupeds, deer 

 are the greatest fools, wolves are the meanest, apes the most cun- 

 ning, bears the most consistent and open-minded, and chimpanzees 

 the most intellectual. 



Of birds, the parrots and cockatoos are the most philosophic, 

 the cranes are the most domineering, the darters are the most 

 treacherous, the gallinaceous birds have the least common-sense, 

 and the swimming birds are by far the quickest to recognize pro- 

 tection and accept it. 



The virtues of the higher animals have been extolled unduly, 

 and their intelligence has been magnified about ten diameters. 

 The meannesses and cruelties of wild animals toward each other 

 form a long series of chapters which have not yet been written, and 

 which no lover of animals cares to write. 



I can see no possible objection to the writing of good fiction 

 stories in which animals are the characters and the actors through- 

 out. I love a good story, and I enjoy a wild-animal hero, even 

 when the entire plot and all its characters are imaginary. To such 

 there can be no objection, so long as the reader knows that fiction is 

 fiction! But the realms of fact and fiction are very distinct, and 



