166 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the Grebe returned to the nest ; but, on the Moor-hen's again 

 descending, he again swam towards it, this time in a little 

 threatening rush, driving it right up the bank. This took place 

 yet a third time, and then, before descending the bank again, the 

 Moor-hen walked some way farther off along the top of it. This, 

 it must be remembered, was not under the actual stress of an 

 attack, but deliberately, and though it was evident that the par- 

 ticular spot off the water which the Moor-hen was thus leaving 

 was the particular spot where it wished to be. Two attempts to 

 return and a previous lengthy occupation are sufficient to show 

 this. It is in little everyday things like this, I think, that one 

 can best trace the working of reason in animals. Elaborate 

 experiments in which they are placed under quite artificial con- 

 ditions are of little value. I have read a whole series of such 

 where Cats and Dogs were put into boxes which opened by a 

 certain mechanical contrivance, and it seemed to be expected of 

 them that they should calmly examine the interior with a view to 

 piercing into this, the result, of course, being held to show that 

 they had no reasoning power. Probably as long as they were 

 there, their mental distress and confusion was such that they had 

 not. When Foxes, however, and Wolverines walk round traps 

 and examine them (as to which see Professor Romanes* ' Animal 

 Intelligence ') they are calm, and have their wits about them. 

 Moreover, they have had time and that kind of vivid experience 

 which impresses things on the mind — factors which, in the wooing 

 of reason, are found sometimes to be almost as much needed by 

 men as by animals. There is too much tendency, I think, to go 

 by experiments made in the study rather than by those which 

 nature may be said to make. The reason of this is not difficult 

 to understand. Men, as a rule, are more comfortable in their 

 study, and they admire their own or each other's ingenuity. But 

 the greatest ingenuity can hardly ever give what is the most 

 absolutely essential factor in all experiments where animal 

 psychology is concerned, viz. natural — or at any rate accustomed 

 — conditions. I therefore think that to watch an experiment 

 made by nature is in nine cases out of ten much better than to 

 make one oneself. 



The Moor-hen seemed to know that the Grebe would not 

 follow him up the bank, for always, though he might be a little 



