492 • 
[March 28, 1908. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
ripening of a few seeds would take place in mid¬ 
summer. The idea of saying that this mechanical 
function of the red-root "is just as much an act 
of reason as any dog, wild animal or bird story 
that I have yet to encounter,’ is not worth dis¬ 
cussing. It is puerile. 
No, there are dogs and dogs, just as there are 
men and men. I have been able to satisfy myself 
that some dogs can reason from effect to cause, 
since they have done so; but, on the other hand, 
I have never been able to observe any ability on 
the part of an animal to reason from cause to 
effect. 
Mr. Burroughs refers to certain writings of 
Wm. T. Hornaday on this subject. Mr. Horna- 
day has given us the best word pictures of wild 
animals and their doings, instinctive and reason¬ 
able, that we have at our command. Inasmuch 
as he is soon to publish an elaboration of his 
views on the psychology of wild animals, I will 
not at this time ask space in Forest and Stream 
to bring in several illustrations of my own ob¬ 
servation and experience, except to say that I 
think the wild brute shows quite as much mental 
capacity above purely instinctive, as the domestic 
brute does. Henry W. Elliott. 
Wild Docks in the Park. 
Last Saturday a male and female wild blacl 
duck were seen swimming about the Pool in Cen 
tral Park, New York city. It is probable this i 
the same pair that remained on this small lak 
several weeks last spring. The duck laid severs 
eggs in a nest among the large stones on a littl 
point on one side of the pond, and was seen 0 
the nest for nearly three weeks, then she rejoine 
the drake and they flew away shortly afterwarc 
Whether the eggs failed to hatch or were cai 
ried away by the huge rats that infest the shori 
was not ascertained, but a few days after si 
was last seen on the nest it was examined an 
no trace of eggs or young found. Possibly, to< 
some vandal carried the eggs away, a thing th; 
was known to occur less than a block distan 
where a songbird had built a nest. In this ca* 
nest and eggs were stolen and the mother bii 
spent the next day in the shrubbery, lamentii 
her loss. 
The pair seen last week frequented the san 
places as did last year's pair, and hovered abo' 
the point where the old nest was hidden. A 
though very wild, the pond is too small to pe 
mit them to remain further than fifty yards di 
tant from human beings, but they seem content! 
and quiet. 
Reason in Animals. 
Lakewood, Ohio, Feb. 28 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: In your issue of Feb. 22, you gave space 
to a letter from Julian Burroughs; in this letter 
he attempts to satisfy your readers with his idea 
that animals do not know the power to reason; 
he cites a number of examples to show us that 
they cannot reason unto themselves; that cita¬ 
tion is not conclusive; I will submit briefly a 
few examples showing clearly that some animals 
have more than instinctive sense. 
Before I proceed, however, I desire to dis¬ 
tinctly disclaim all ability to draw the line be¬ 
tween instinct and reason in my own kind, let 
alone animals ; it cannot be done. Still more, the 
line between the ending of vegetable and the be¬ 
ginning of animal life has not yet been defined. 
Mr. Burroughs says: “Lloyd Morgan, the most 
careful of our comparative psychologists, tried to 
get his dog to come through a picket fence with 
a cane in his mouth. He found that it was quite 
beyond the dog’s power of reason to see that he 
must tip his head over until the cane cleared the 
pickets, and that there was plenty of room for 
the cane up and down. It ended by the dog 
dropping the cane.” 
I have a Boston bull-terrier, “Jeff,” that can 
give this Morgan dog points as to sense, precisely 
as certain men can give their fellows pointers as 
to sense. My dog has been through a wire fence 
carrying in his mouth a broom handle three feet 
long. How did he do it? When this stick was 
thrown over that fence—in order to get it out of 
this dog’? possession—the little terrier squeezed 
himself through a broken spot in the mesh of the 
wire netting; a hole barely large enough to per¬ 
mit the passing of his body. He seized this 
broom handle first so as to balance it in his 
mouth, at the middle length. He ran up to the 
hole and of course came to a square standstill. 
Two, three and more times, he backed up, to 
butt back in vain at this hole. Then what did he 
do? Did he drop that stick and give it up? No. 
He suddenly caught the extreme end of it, then 
dragged it trailing and close up against his 
shoulder and flank, thrust his head through the 
hole, thus bringing one end of the stick at least 
four or five inches through at the same time. 
Then he let go of the stick, drew his head back, 
came through the hole in the usual dog fashion, 
turned, seized the stick at the end which just 
protruded as he had dropped it, drew it through, 
and then caught it up by the middle, to run ex¬ 
ultantly round and round us, in a perfect ecstacy 
of triumph over difficulties. 
Will any thoughtful investigator deny reason 
to my dog, when it overcomes an obstacle in 
the time and method aforesaid? 
Then Mr. Burroughs tells us about those red- 
root weeds! Why, I have seen that very same 
thing; same weed and same growth in my vine¬ 
yards, over and over again. There is nothing in 
it at all suggestive of anything outside of the com¬ 
mon order of plant life and reproduction. Owing 
to abnormally dry weather, it does not begin to 
grow until cold nights and long shadows by day 
have arrived. It cannot grow then, except as a 
stunted growth as compared with its normal 
growth in the warm nights of July and August. 
These cool nights operate on its organism just 
as “ringing” the stems would operate on it in 
July and August, if so done then. If so cut, 
then the same stunted growth, and hastened 
The Song Sparrow in Winter. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Early in January I made the acquaintance of a 
song sparrow. The bird’s loneliness attracted 
me, When the tree sparrows rose and flew away 
in little companies, this solitary bird flew low 
across the yard and scuttled around the corner 
like a mouse, or sought refuge in the woodpile 
or berry garden. It was several days before I 
knew him; then coming upon him suddenly he 
flew to the fence and alighting there turned and 
reproved me with hoarse but vigorous chirp. Not 
till then did I recognize the familiar flirt of the 
tail, the dark-streaked body and blotched breast. 
Until the last week in January the weather was 
mild and the song sparrow kept constantly about 
the barn and garden, but with the advent of se¬ 
vere cold he came to the house and began to 
make friends with the chickadees and nuthatches. 
Of their plenty the only thing that appealed to 
him was the fried cakes; meat and nuts were 
not to his taste. I placed a handful of seed on 
a shelf in the shelter of the veranda and on 
stormy days he was never long away. He would 
sit quietly there hour after hour, cracking and 
hulling seed like a canary and hovering his cold 
feet, but he was sure to revert to the garden or 
barn on mild days. 
February was stormy and cold. The sparrow’s 
coat grew rough and he seemed ill at ease, fits 
appearance and attitude indicated suffering. On 
the morning of Feb. 5 the mercury dropped to 
23 below, and I thought I should see him no 
more. But shortly after sunrise I found him 
feeding as usual on his shelf, looking very for¬ 
lorn and frowzy, and hovering the poor feet a 
little closer. 
Thoreau records a similar incident in his 
journal. He first saw a song sparrow on Jan. 15 
and again on Jan. 27, 1857. From the 23d to the 
26th of that month was the coldest weather of 
which he made record. “Remarkable,” he says, 
“that this coldest of all winters this bird should 
remain.” Will W. Christman. 
Spring Notes. 
Worthington, Ohio, March 13 .—Editor Fo 
cst and Stream: Four inches of sugar snow h 
disappeared under the rays of a warm sun, ai 
the maple buds and the willow pussies are in e\ 
dence. All this has brought in the birds and t! 
insects and yesterday the frogs began to peep 
the ponds and swamps. 
The arrivals here on the “Sea-Board Air Lin 
up to date are: Kingfisher, Jan. 18; honey be 
out, Feb. 10; one robin, Feb. 11 (they’re all he 
now) ; full song of the song sparrow, Feb. 1 
meadow-lark (sang) Feb. 16; mergansers in ■ 
the 20th; single mallard seen March 1; blac 
birds, mourning doves, here March 3. The gold 
winged woodpeckers began to challenge and be 
their rolls on the 3d. The killdeers, one jac 
snipe, and the red-winged blackbirds came in 1 
the 5th. English sparrows and the blue birds a 
already eyeing available nesting places, while t 
hepatica is showing above the ground. 
Will C. Parsons. 
Chamois for Yellowstone Park. 
There was great excitement and not a lit 
indignation in the Frutigal, Switzerland, t 
other day, says a local paper, when it becai 
known that the government had ordered the ca 
ture alive of chamois to be sent as a present 
the people of the United States for their Yello 
stone Park. The natives were somewhat pacifi 
when it was explained to them that this prese 
was to be in exchange for the young trout ) 
peatedly sent by the Americans to their govei 
ment for acclimatization in Swiss waters. Ste 
were taken thereupon to capture some of t 
animals. The first prisoner was an old buck, w 
was so frightened that he died in a few hou 
Several other captives shared the same fa 
whereupon the government ordered that or 
young animals should be caught. The exper 
however, doubt whether even these would sta 
the trip across the ocean and the American cc 
tinent in close confinement. 
