126 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. is, 1903- 
tions of human figures, could not understand a land- 
scape, and such histance of mental incapacity invites 
a discussion of the memory of the horse. I believe that 
the wonderful memory of locality that is possessed by 
this animal is based upon a study of minor, and what 
would appear to us, inconsequential features of the 
landscape. Unlike a man, the horse probably does not 
take in its broader aspects its relation to other land- 
scapes, it has no- knowledge of north as opposed to 
south, or east to west. All this involves comparison 
and thought, which, without language, would be im- 
practicable. Over and over again, when on horseback, 
I have ridden my mount by a strange road to a familiar 
place, and as the animal approached it, I strove to 
learn what it was that inspired his obvious recognition. 
My efforts were unsatisfactory, but notwithstanding, I 
am inclined to the opinion that the identifying fea- 
tures are seldom such as would impress themselves 
vipon the memory of an intelligent human being. 
In its primitive state the horse probably roamed 
vast, and to hmnan eyes, monotonous plains, guided 
by a memory retentive of detail, and scored by a close 
study of the minutiae of a substantially featureless land- 
scape. The horse, hke the dog, should be able to 
conjure up from the store house of its memory a 
wealth of visual objects, together with actions imme- 
diately associated therewith, and to this extent it may 
be said to have imagination. I have little doubt that 
in this particular, the horse and various other roving 
animals have memories equal to or even superior to 
the best among men. That is, no man, though of ex- 
ceptional memory and intelligence, could observe and 
reinember such a variety and number of minutise as 
the horse or dog stores up in its brain. This close 
observation and memory of detail has been observed 
in Indians and various other savages, but how much 
more must the faculty be- devel<iiK'd in animals? 
As a further illustration of the limitations of the 
savage mind, it may be mentioned that the K,affir has 
at first great difficulty in understanding drawings, and 
it is related of a band of Australians that upon being 
shown a well-drawn and colored picture of one of their 
own race, found it incomprehensible, one declaring it 
to be a ship, another a kangaroo, not one of the 
dozen observers recognizing the portrait as having a 
connection with himself or his kin. To give them an 
idea of a man, a rude drawing is necessary, with the 
head much exaggerated, after the fashion of a little 
child's slate pencil sketches. I never heard of an 
authentic instance of a dog recognizing the portrait of 
its master, or of one of its own kind. The attainment 
of an understanding of the projection of a human upon 
an absolutely flat surface requires education, and while 
I believe that dogs and possibly cats have occasionally 
been moved to active demonstrations by their reflec- 
tions from mirrors, I have never myself observed it 
and belive it to be of very rare occurrence. It is very 
likely, however, that the animals' minuteness of ob- 
servations usually enables it to detect the illusion. 
I subscribe unreservedly to Mr. Hallock's expression 
of a belief in a super-sense in animals, a perception of 
remote and unseen localities to which they bind their 
course in a straight line. Can any one reasonably as- 
sume that the wandering albatross that circumnavi- 
gates the globe, is without a distinct perception of the 
lone little island in the South Pacific that forms its 
breeding place? Wilson's petrel annually voyages from 
the South to the North Atlantic, returning to Kergue- 
len Island, probably ten thousand miles from its furth- 
est northern attainment. The seals of the Prybylov 
Islands, over which there has been so much contention, 
voyage annually in an ellipse covering six or seven 
thousand miles, projecting their course with unerring 
. certaint}' — even though, the locality be shrouded in the 
/densest fog. Prybylov, the discoverer of these islands, 
strove for years to find them, and though possessing 
every appliance of navigation, his eflfort availed him 
naught until the roaring of the assembled herd pene- 
trated the thick mist that had so long been thair pro- 
tection. Such instances of occult animal perception 
could be indefinitely multiplied, and in explanation the 
writer has to say that every locality may have its dis- 
tinctive series of radiations. When we view a land- 
scape there are light emanations projected to our eyes 
from every point, and to the peculiar perceptions of 
some animals there may be local emanations of a differ- 
ent character, of which we are not cognizant. Not 
only radium, but a number of other substances are 
more or less radio-active, even water from deep wells 
has been found to be so. Moreover, this theory is in 
accord with some late speculations as to the constitu- 
tion of matter, which are to the effect that all its forms 
are simply varieties of motion in the ether, and that 
all. such motions are indefinitely propagated through 
that mysterious fluid. I belicYC, however, that the 
faculty of, keeping in constant touch with a desired 
locality is only exceptionally possessed by dogs, horses, 
and other animals, but that fishes and far roving birds 
-are so endowed, I feel certain. The swordfish and the 
tunny voyage to our coast annually from the Medi- 
terranean. Whales undoubtedly roam thousands of 
miles, and fish generally probably wander as much as 
birds. 
Not only do I maintain that many animals have a 
perception of remote and unseen objects, but also of 
each other, and of each other's mental states. When 
each member of a vast shoal of herring floating upon 
the ocean's surface simultaneously flicks its tail and 
disappears beneath the surface, the community of ac- 
tion necessarily implies an instantaneous transmission 
of the impulse, and the same may be said of the aerial 
evolutions of immense flocks of birds. It may be said 
as a possible explanation that every thought or im- 
pulse emanating from the human or animal brain is the 
result of distinctive motions of infinitessimal portions 
.of - its substance, and that these motions may be trans- 
lated through the ethereal medium, of which they form 
a part. 
Does Mr. Hallock, in his suggestion that animals 
may enjoy an after life, consider all that it implies? 
Shall beast continue to subsist upon beast? Is the 
world to come to be one of ravine and slaughter? 
And if SO, what is that world into which death enters, 
to what else is it a prelude? For myself, I do not be- 
lieve that an animal can project itself into even its 
mundane future. I hold that the morrow never enters 
its consciousness, that it has no anticipatory joys or 
fears. A dog, upon observing evidences of an impend- 
ing outing, may be transported with delight, but his 
emotion is stirred by visible and well recognized pre- 
liminaries. That he ever of himself contemplates such 
outings, or that, like ourselves, he lives in dread or 
inpleasurable anticipation I do not believe, nor that 
the memory of suffering or of gratification in the past 
survives to depress or cheer. This oblivion of the past 
and future is the secret of the animal's contentment, 
and in this respect his lot is to be envied. That the 
bee does not store up its honey with a consciousness 
of the advantage to be derived has been demonstrated, 
and like the bee the animals cannot confront an ex- 
igency unknown in their experience, their mental equip- 
ment suffices to maintain their species and it, therefore, 
possesses not that of which it has no need. 
Permit me, to say a few words in reply to Hermit's 
further advocacy of his contention that with animals' 
parental instruction largely takes the place of inherited 
instinct in fitting their offspring for the battle of life. A 
kitten of proper stock will easily kill a rat of nearly its 
own size, and the nipping of the cervical vertebra; of its 
victim may be wholly untaught. Is its feat more re- 
markable than the inherited tendency of a bulldog to pin 
a large animal by the nose, or of a ferret to bite the cere- 
bellum? Some species of wasps paralyze their prey by 
stinging it in certain motor centers, and the insect thus 
disabled affords a store of sustenance for the wasp's 
growing offspring that slowly devour the crippled crea- 
ture, and thus the juvenile wasp, though abandoned by 
its parents, thrives for weeks upon the living provender 
that is furnished. When, in turn, it becomes mature, it 
seeks the particular insect that its species affects. A 
spider is^ given a single sting in the central ganglion, a 
cricket is pierced in three different nerve centers, and will 
Jive in a comatose condition six weeks or more ; the great 
Texas spider surviving in such state much longer. Cater- 
pillars are punctured in eight or nine places, and the head 
is also partially crushed. In all these instances an in- 
herited memory is undoubtedly the spring of action. Yet 
Vv'ith the cat tiermit would probably maintain that it offi- 
ciates at a sort of feline kindergarten, grounding its 
brood in the rudiments of their future acitivities, and that 
without such impartment of parental knowledge the neg- 
lected offspring" would perish by reason of their ignorance 
or jnaptness. I deny that animals, as a rule, possess in- 
telhligence or reasoning power, because such acquire- 
ment is not necessary to sustain them in their struggle 
for existence. Nature furnished them with an equipment 
just sufficient to maintain their species; with that accom- 
plishment evolution ceases, for the selective causes no 
longer exist. No species of animal depends upon intelli- 
gence in its contention with others ; there appear to be no 
factors tending to evolve a reasoning faculty; ergo, it is 
absent. To my mind, Hermit's illustrations upon this 
subject carry no more conviction than does his recent 
deduction concerning the position of a cat's ear, which 
he contends signifies no when flattened and yes when erect 
or pointed forward. Now a cat, like a horse or dog, will 
retract its auricular appendages when fighting, for sucli 
projecting portions of its anatomy are readily exposed to 
bites, hence a retracted ear, with various animals, is an 
indubitable sign of displeasure, real or affected. In 
horned animals this expression is absent, for they do not 
bite in their contests. An animal that will invent signs 
for yes and no will not stop at that accomplishment; upon 
such signs must necessarily hinge others, and I think that 
if Hermit had fully studied out his cat's presumptive 
vocabulary he would have had material for a dictionary 
of substantial proportions, and thereby enabled people to 
express themselves felinely, so to speak. 
I A. H. GOURAUD. 
Bbooklyn. 
A Snake and His Meal* 
Vancouver, B. C, July 9. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I inclose a photograph which may be of interest to 
the readers of your natural history column. 
■ While walking along the beach near here with two 
companions, we came 'across the snake crawling over 
the sand. We started to tease him with a small stick, 
SNAKE AND FISH. 
which appeared to make him very angry. During the 
game we scratched him down the back with the stick, 
upon which he disgorged the fish seen in the fore- 
ground of the picture. We measured the fish, which 
was sYz inches long, and then the snake, which was 
20 inches long, took his photograph and let him go 
to hunt another meal. 
The snake was a common one along our rocky 
shores, black, with gray markings. 
Being a circumstance which one does not witness 
every day, I thought it worthy of record. 
H. G. Breeze. 
All eommunications intended for Forbst and Stkeam should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 
New York, and not to any individual connected with the paper. 
The Hotse Came Back. 
A HORSE belonging to A. M. Locke, of this city, freed 
himself last night from the stables of the late Rev. Solo- 
mon Clark, in Plainfield, and was found in his stall at the 
Smith Car bakery's stables this morning. Mr. Locke 
was inuch surprised to find his homesick horse waiting 
for him upon his arrival at the office this morning, and, 
though the animal is quite human in nature, yet he did 
not convey any intelligible signs as to the circumstances 
under which he was present. Mr. Locke then telephoned 
to Plainfield to determine whether his sons, Owen and 
Walter, who arrived at Plainfield Sunday afternoon for a 
vacation, were aware of the horse's departure. But the 
beys were sound asleep and not guilty of the whereabouts 
of their good beast. Later investigation showed Mr. 
Locke that the horse freed himself during the night, re- 
turning to his home in this city, a distance of twenty 
miles, and never having traveled over the road but once 
before. The horse was in good condition, unheated and 
without a scratch. This is a very uncommon feat for a 
horse to make in this part of the country, but in the 
Pacific States freed horses travel seventy-five or a hun- 
dred miles quite often. — Hampshire Gazette, Northamp- 
ton, Mass. 
Fttfs and Fur-Beating Animals in Siberia. 
R. T. Greener, United States Commercial Agent, 
Vladivostock, writes : The fur trade in this province is 
in a critical condition. Prices have fallen very much, and 
first-class furs are hard to get. Buyers complain that 
through the action of some English traders a few years 
ago in paying extravagant prices to the natives for furs — 
furs ultimately sold by the buyers at a loss — the regular 
prices were greatly inflated. Hunters complain that fur- 
bearing animals are constantly growing scarcer in 
Siberia. 
'^wf^ ^ttd 0m. 
Projirietors of shootiogr resorts will find it profitable to advertiic < 
them in Fokxst and Stkxam. 
One of Canada's Huntirg Grounds. 
A NUMBER of the habitations of game have been, from 
time to time, styled "The Sportsman's Paradise," and, 
while the accounts of these localities have furnished very ■■ 
delightful reading, because of allusions to a great vari- ; 
ety of game and its easy acquisition, the enjoyment of 
their attractions — as in the case of the Paradise of our 
Sunday School days — is only open to a favored few. 
Time, that is not heavily scored against by each suc- 
ceeding set of sun, and a source of "wherewithal" 
that does not overbearingly demand superintendence, : 
are requisites of these remote fabled lands of plenty, 
andj- therefore, he who is possessed 'by manias of hunt- 
ing and fishing, but whose opportunity for indulging 
them is limited to, say, three weeks in each year, and, 
furthermore, who must have some regard for the 'tar- 
nal cost of things, is apt to be at a loss to find a place 
where, during these precious moments of irresponsi- 
bility he, a slave to time and penury, can substitute for 1 
a bustling city, discordant noises and vitiated air, a = 
slumbering forest, an "audible stillness" as (Thoreau 
would term it), a vitalizing atmosphere, and, to boot, ' 
feel a reasonable certainty of getting a shot at big 
game. _ ! 
With the hope of aiding some embryonic or wander- 
ing or dissatisfied sportsman (who may take exception ' 
to Maine's new law), to a decision for the coming sea- i 
son, either by telling of a retreat that will, or, putting 
it negatively, will not, appeal to him, we call attention ; 
to that little portion of the large Province df Quebec i 
which is almost severed from its moorings by the [ 
mighty River St. Lawrence and its tributaries, St. 
Maurice and Saguenay; a bit of country as picturesque ! 
as the views of it from these bordering waters suggest. ' 
It is made up of as inany hills as its acres will accom- 
modate, for no sooner does one subside than another 
rises, in an effort to form a larger billow, and in be- 
tween them all are energetic "little rivers" or deep , 
placid lakes of various sizes and shapes. ' •' 
There is no vantage point from which to get ex--, 
tended views of this interesting territory, excepting the 
Terrace in Quebec and occasional rises in the road 
leading through its sparsely settled clearings, as one . 
drives toward the entrance to its fastnesses, because it 
is almost completely veiled by woods. Therefore re- 
collections of it must be made up of a mental collection 
of such landscapes as are reveald to the traveler when ■ 
he parts the "bush" on arriving at the margin of each 
succeeding lake and imagines himself the discoverer, 
because, seemingly, such seclusive quiet and placidity 
have never been disturbed by the human voice or the ' 
canoe paddle. 
A wonderfully beautiful and fascinating wilderness, 
and so orderly withal; never a tree or bough falls but 
that it is soon concealed by decorative lichens of har- 
monizing colors; the occasional gaunt and spectral 
arms of a dead tree are gracefully festooned by waving 
gray mosses, and the shores of the lakes are bordered 
so evenly by the vigorous growth of stately fur trees 
that "waste land" is certainly a misnomer. 
No landscape gardener ever produced such eflFects as 
these, and in recognition of the rare beauty of this • 
section of country, the Canadian Government has set > 
apart a tract of 2,500 square miles, naming it Lauren- 
tides National Park, with the same object as the Al- 
gonquin Park of the Province of Ontario and the Yel- 
lowstone Park of the United States, viz.: the preserva- 
tion of game and forests. Adjacent to the Laurentides 
Park are very many miles of a similar character, some 
sections of which, occasionally as large as the park ' 
itself, are leased by the Government to incorporated 
fish and game clubs, and this co-operation between the ' 
Government and clubs results in a huge game preserve 
under systematic and thorough patrol, which is open to 
any licensed sportsman, during the appropriate sea- 
sons, wJio complies with the Government's require- 
