WAYS OF NATURE 



as well as we can, the geologic record. Darwin 

 sought to explain the origin of species, and to in- 

 terpret many palseontological phenomena. We ac- 

 count for animal behavior on rational grounds of 

 animal psychology; there is little to interpret. Nat- 

 ural history is not a cryptograph to be deciphered, 

 it is a series of facts and incidents to be observed 

 and recorded. If two wild animals, such as the 

 beaver and the otter^ are deadly enemies, there is 

 good reason for it; and when we have found that 

 reason, we have got hold of a fact in natural his- 

 tory. The robins are at enmity with the jays and 

 the crow blackbirds and the cuckoos in the spring, 

 and the reason is, these birds eat the robins' eggs. 

 When we seek to interpret the actions of the ani- 

 mals, we are, I must repeat, in danger of running 

 into all kinds of anthropomorphic absurdities, by 

 reading their lives in terms of our own thinking 

 and consciousness. 



A man sees a flock of crows in a tree in a state 

 of commotion; now they all caw, then only one 

 master voice is heard, presently two or three crows 

 fall upon one of their number and fell him to the 

 ground. The spectator examines the victim and 

 finds him dead, with his eyes pecked out. He in- 

 terprets what he has seen as a court of justice; the 

 crows were trying a criminal, and, having found 

 him guilty, they proceeded to execute him. The 

 curious instinct which often prompts animals to fall 

 198 



