A BEAVER'S REASON 



that detects the egg of the cowbird when it is laid 

 in the bird's nest, and that is the yellow warbler. 

 All the other birds accept it as their own, but this 

 warbler detects the imposition, and proceeds to get 

 rid of the strange egg by burying it under a new 

 nest bottom. 



Man is undoubtedly of animal origin. The road 

 by which he has come out of the dim past lies 

 through the lower animals. The germ and poten- 

 tiality of all that he has become or can become was 

 sleeping there in his humble origins. Of this I have 

 no doubt. Yet I think we are justified in saying 

 that the difference between animal intelligence and 

 human reason is one of kind and not merely of 

 degree. Flying and walking are both modes of loco- 

 motion, and yet may we not fairly say they differ in 

 kind ? Reason and instinct are both manifestations 

 of intelligence, yet do they not belong to different 

 planes ? Intensify animal instinct ever so much, 

 and you have not reached the plane of reason. The 

 homing instinct of certain animals is far beyond 

 any gift of the kind possessed by man, and yet it 

 seems in no way akin to reason. Reason heeds the 

 points of the compass and takes note of the topo- 

 graphy of the country, but what can animals know 

 of these things ? 



And yet I say the animal is father of the man. 

 Without the lower orders, there could have been 

 no higher. In my opinion, no miracle or special 

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