482 THE LAWS OF ORIENTATION AMONG ANIMALS. 



secret, so in the capricious flight of a bird or the wandering course of a 

 wild animal cliance has, as we believe, no part. 



The motive which determines the actions of the animal is the instinct 

 of preservation of the individual and of the species. The animal is 

 capable of a spontaneous activity when he is roused by necessity; it is 

 very seldom that he performs an act that has no immediately useful 

 end. Initiative 1 is not within his power, and when, in ants or bees, we 

 think we have observed forethought for the future, we soou see that 

 this supposed provision is nothing more than obedience to the momen- 

 tary call of instinct: the animal accomplishes an action without fore- 

 seeing the result. 



The search for food and sleep are the two poles between which the 

 existence of an animal constantly gravitates. If, to utilize the resources 

 of his domain, he is obliged to vary his course daily, the periodic need 

 for rest yet brings him back to the same quarters. The lack of initi- 

 ative leads him to always follow the same road to return to the same 

 point. This is why the animal on his domain makes a number of trails 

 which are interwoven in every direction ; he acquires in this way a very 

 complete knowledge of the locality; in the region where every little 

 irregularity is familiar to him he is ready to move in every direction. 



Necessity may force the inhabitant of one region to overstep its limits, 

 in time of drought or famine, for example. Then he makes a rapid 

 incursion into the neighboring territory, delays not a moment, but as 

 soon as he has quenched his thirst or appeased his hunger returns in 

 all haste to his home. In this second region, seldom fully explored, 

 the animal knows but a limited number of trails, usually straight ones. 

 If he is surprised there by a danger of any kind, he is much more 

 exposed than in his own territory. 



One example will show plainly the essential difference existing 

 between these two zones. When a stag is attacked in his own domain 

 by hunters, he begins by doubling, makes a thousand turns, and for a 

 time throws his adversaries off the track. Soon again discovered, he 

 sets out anew; pursued from shelter to shelter he finally "gets away" 

 and plunges into the second zone, where the trails are straight. The 

 chase then changes its character, and takes on a rapid pace which it 

 did not have in its first phase. 



The stag soon reaches the limits of the known territory and tries to 

 return on his tracks and regain his own domain. Constantly driven 

 back, pressed closely by the dogs, he again sets out, crosses the second 

 zone, and then, entering the unknown territory, he is "off," running 

 straight forward until he falls. 



It is interesting to see how a stag acts who has been carried some 

 distance in a cage and then set at liberty before a hunting party to be 

 chased. The animal, cast on an unknown ground, does not try to 



1 An animal is by nature a slave to routine; when surprised by the hunter he does 

 not invent a plan of flight, but makes use of trails over which he formerly passed. 



