WAYS OF NATURE 



fly with a corkscrew motion where it is much fired 

 at on the wing. How wary and cautious the fox 

 becomes in regions where it is much trapped and 

 hunted ! Even the woodchuck becomes very wild on 

 the farms where it is much shot at, and this wildness 

 extends to its young. In his " Wilderness Hunter " 

 President Roosevelt says the same thing of the big 

 , game of the Rockies. Antelope and deer can be 

 lured near the concealed hunter by the waving of a 

 small flag till they are shot at a few times. Then they 

 see through the trick. " The burnt child fears the 

 fire." Animals profit by experience in this way; they 

 learn what not to do. In the accumulation of posi- 

 tive knowledge, so far as we know, they make little 

 or no progress. Birds and beasts will adapt them- 

 selves more or less to their environment, but plants 

 and trees will do that, too. The rats in Jamaica have 

 learned to nest in trees to escape the mongoose, 

 but this is only the triumph of the instinct of self- 

 preservation. The mongoose has not yet learned to 

 climb trees; the pressure of need is not yet great 

 enough. It is said that in districts subject to floods 

 moor-hens often build in trees. All animals will 

 change their habits under pressure of necessity; man 

 changes his without this pressure. The Duke of 

 Argyll saw a bald eagle seize a fish in the stream — 

 an unusual proceeding; but the eagle was doubtless 

 very hungry, and there was no osprey near upon 

 whom to levy tribute. 



72 



