i88i.] 
and their “Cracking ” 
393 
coming out when the door is set open, they refuse even to be 
dragged out. Cats, for all their caution and agility, have 
been known to rush right into a burning house, though many 
ways of escape were open. 
Many years ago, when on the ridge of a mountain in 
Austria, I saw a fox appear out of a thicket and run along a 
track leading straight down the slope. As no divinity hedges 
in the life or the well-being of Reynard in the Dual Monarchy, 
I took the liberty of setting a large fragment of rock rolling 
down after him. He fled in terror, but still kept in the same 
track, and not until the stone was close upon him did he 
bound to one side, and with a loud yelp disappear in the 
bushes. 
In the year 1879 I noticed a dog fleeing along the Ayles- 
bury and Buckingham Railway, just in front of a train. 
At any point, by turning to the right or the left, he could 
have escaped all danger, but he still ran straight on and was 
almost overtaken. The engine-driver, espying him, slightly 
reduced speed, when the dog at last came to his senses suf- 
ficiently to turn at a level crossing and run along a lane, 
still plainly in a state of the greatest affright. 
Are these and similar events proofs of animal stupidity, or 
are they not rather to be referred to the same cause as the 
appearance of death above mentioned ? 
Another somewhat allied class of phenomena here suggest 
themselves. The strange influence which a bright light dis- 
played amidst darkness has upon many inserts, birds, fishes, 
and even some mammals, is a most familiar fadt. This 
attraction towards light is particularly experienced by noc- 
turnal animals ; but diurnal species, if travelling in the 
night, are similarly affeCted. The importunity with which 
inseCts will rush towards and seek to force their way into a 
flame has been utilised not merely for the capture of rarities, 
but has been applied on the large scale for the destruction of 
noxious species. Birds are frequently known to dash them- 
selves — sometimes fatally — against the windows of a light- 
house, and this takes place not merely in storms, but in fine 
weather. Owls have been known to flutter against the win- 
dows of a sick chamber in the night. This has been super- 
stitiously regarded as an omen of death, and certain 
demi-savans — seeking to explain away this piece of folk-lore 
— have made matters worse by suggesting that the owl 
smells the approach of death, and comes in the hope of 
feasting on the body. To this theory there are two fatal 
objections : the owl hunts by the eye, not by scent, and, so 
VOL. III. (THIRD SERIES). 2, D 
