[August, 
478 Thoughts on Imitation. 
other creatures, is more common among mammals than 
birds, from structural reasons. To what an extent it occuis 
among the monkey tribe is well known. In the cats, or at 
least in the one species of that group which ordinarily comes 
under human observation, it is not unknown, though rare. 
The same may be said as regards dogs and weasels. But 
lower down in the mammalian series it appears unknown. 
We find no instances of imitation among the marsupials, the 
edentates, and probably the ruminants. We must, however, 
among the latter exclude that crude phase of imitation 
which is witnessed in sheep, where, if one runs, all the 
rest run, and if one jumps, all jump, even though the object 
to be overleapt has been removed. But we never see a sheep 
attempting to imitate the conduct of a man, a dog, or a cat. 
The ruminants are not wanting in curiosity, which in weax 
species is largely mixed with fear and _ suspicion, and in 
stronger ones with hostility. But it is in all cases undis 
criminating. . 
The imitative actions of mammalia of course imply, other 
things being equal, the same faculties as the imitative sounds 
or cries of birds. We may therefore regard it as, to say the 
least, discreditable rashness, when metaphysicans and 
litterateurs pronounce such aCtions of birds and mammals 
“ merely imitative ” in the hope of thereby denying the 
intelligence thus manifested. For, in addition and prior to 
the desire to imitate, there must exist, as we have seen, 
certain intellectual faculties, without which that impulse, 
even if it existed, must be abortive. 
But wherefore should any animal seek to imitate the 
aCtions of another animal whether of its own or a different 
species ? What advantage can it derive from such imita- 
tion ? At first sight it might seem none whatever, and we 
might perhaps feel puzzled how to account for the origin of 
the propensity for imitation, whether we regard it as an 
impulse originally implanted in certain species, or as having 
been developed under the aCtion of the struggle for existence. 
But we should in so doing fall into a grave error. It has 
been found that the tiger imitates the peculiar whistling cry 
with which the large Sambur deer call one another. The 
imitation is said to be so close that only an experienced ear 
can distinguish any difference. The leopard of India, in like 
manner, counterfeits the cry of a smaller species of deer. 
Here we may carry our considerations of what is involved in 
imitation at least one step further. The tiger has not only 
observed closely and accurately the cry of the deer, not 
