'■■ 
 
 i
 
 •' Afraid to a(,CLiul the tix-c, he decided on cutting it down, 
 and, having his axe with him, he set actively to work." 
 
 Pase 110
 
 STORIES 
 
 ILHrSTBATIVE OF THB 
 
 INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS, 
 
 ^fietr (Sitatattm anlj l^abt'ts. 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS BINGLEY, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "STORIES ABOUT DOGS,"— " TALES OF SHIPWRECKS," 
 
 "stories about horses," &C. &C. 
 
 WITH ENGRAVINGS FROM DRAWINGS BY THOMAS LANDSEER. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 CHARLES TILT, FLEET STREET.
 
 LONDON : 
 CLARKE. PIUNTERS, SILVER STREET, fALCON SQUARE.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 The favourable reception of this little work, and its 
 rapid and extensive sale, has induced me to make 
 such alterations and improvements in the present 
 edition as, I hope, considerably to augment its 
 interest. 
 
 I have only farther, once more, to direct atten- 
 tion to the admirable manner in which Mr. Landseer 
 has delineated many of the most interesting scenes 
 in the work. 
 
 T. B. 
 
 2091 1 09
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS RESUMES HIS STORIES ABOUT THE INSTINCTS OP ANI- 
 MALS. — TELLS ABOUT THE HORSE, AND OP THE IMMENSE HERDS 
 WHICH ARE TO BE POUND ON THE PLAINS OF SOUTH AMERICA; OP 
 THEIR CAPTURE BY MEANS OP THE LASSO; AS WELL AS SEVERAL 
 CURIOUS STORIES ABOUT THE INTELLIGENCE, APFECTION, AND DOCI- 
 LITY OP THE HORSE Page 1. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT THE HABITS OP THE BEAVER; ALSO ABOUT 
 THE CURIOUS NESTS OP THE SOCIABLE GROSBEAK; AND GIVES A 
 LONG AND ENTERTAINING ACCOUNT OP THE WHITE ANT OP AFRICA, 
 AND THE IMPORTANT PART WHICH IT ACTS IN THE ECONOMY OP 
 NATURE 21 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS DESCRIBES THE MANNER IN WHICH WILD ELEPHANTS 
 ARE CAUGHT, AND RELATES SOME CURIOUS STORIES OP THE CUNNING, 
 AFFECTION, AND INTELLIGENCE OF THE ELEPHANT 46
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS INTRODUCES TO THE NOTICE OF HIS LITTLE AUDIENCE 
 THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD'S STORIES ABOUT SHEEP; AND TELLS 
 THEM SOME INTERESTING STORIES ABOUT THE GOAT, AND ITS PE- 
 CULIARITIES ... Page 64 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS RELATES SOME VERY REMARKABLE STORIES ABOUT THE 
 CAT; POINTS OUT TO THE BOYS THE CONNECTION SUBSISTING BE- 
 TWEEN THE DOMESTIC CAT AND THE LION AND TIGER, AND TELLS 
 THEM SOME STORIES ABOUT THE GENTLENESS, AS WELL AS THE 
 FEROCITY OF THOSE ANIMALS 82 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 UKCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT THE TIGER, AND OF THE CURIOUS MODES 
 WHICH ARE ADOPTED FOR ITS CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION ; ALSO 
 ABOUT THE PUMA OR AMERICAN LION, AND INTRODUCES SOME 
 HUNTING SCENES IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, WITH OTHER IN- 
 TERESTING AND ENTERTAINING ADVENTURES Il6 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT THE MIGRATING INSTINCT OP ANIMALS : — 
 OF THE HOUSE SWALLOW OF ENGLAND; AND THE ESCULENT 
 SWALLOW, WHOSE NEST IS EATEN BY THE CHINESE. ALSO ABOUT 
 THE PASSENGER PIGEON OF AMERICA; OP THE LAND-CRAB AND 
 ITS MIGRATIONS; AND OF THOSE OF THE SALMON AND THE 
 HERRING. 138
 
 CONTENTS. VU 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT THE BABOONS, AND THEIR PLUNDERING 
 EXCURSIONS TO THE GARDENS AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, ALSO 
 ABOUT LE VAILLANT's BABOON KEES, AND HIS PECULIARITIES; AND 
 RELATES AN AMUSING STORY ABOUT A YOUNG MONKEY, DEPRIVED 
 OP ITS MOTHER, PUTTING ITSELF UNDER THE FOSTERING CARE OF 
 
 A wig-block! Page 169 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS CONCLUDES STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT WITH SEVERAL 
 INTERESTING ILLUSTRATIONS OP THE AFFECTIONS OF ANIMALS, 
 PARTICULARLY OF THE INSTINCT OF MATERNAL AFFECTION; AND 
 POINTS OUT THE BENEFICENT CARE OF PROVIDENCE IN IMPLANTING 
 IN THE BREASTS OF EACH OF HIS CREATURES THE INSTINCTS WHICH 
 ARE NECESSARY FOR IIS PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION 189
 
 STORIES 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OF THK 
 
 INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 UNCLE THOSIAS RESUMES HIS STORIES ABOUT THE INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. — 
 TELLS ABOUT THE HORSE, AND OP THE IMMENSE HERDS WHICH ARE 
 TO BE FOUND ON THE PLAINS OF SOUTH AMERICA; OF THEIR CAPTURK 
 BY MEANS OF THE LASSO J AS WELL AS SEVERAL CURIOUS STORIES 
 ABOUT THE INTELLIGENCE, AFFECTION, AND DOCILITY OF THE HORSE. 
 
 " Come along, Boys, I am glad to see you 
 again! I promised at our next meeting, to tell 
 you some Tales about the Instincts of Animals ; 
 and I propose to begin with the Horse. I like 
 to interest you with those animals with which 
 you are familiar, and to draw out your sym- 
 pathies towards them. After the Stories 
 
 B
 
 ^l STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 ABOUT Dogs which I told you, some of them 
 exhibiting those fine creatures in such an ami- 
 able and affectionate light, I am sure they 
 must assume a new interest in your minds. 
 Such instances of fidelity and attachment could 
 not fail to impress you with a higher opinion 
 of the animal than you before possessed, and 
 show that kindness and good treatment, even to 
 a brute, are never without their reward. 
 
 " I wish to excite the same interest towards 
 the other animals which, I hope, I have effected 
 towards the Dog. Each, you will find, has 
 been endowed by its Creator with particular 
 Instincts and dispositions, to fit it for the station 
 w^hich it was intended to occupy in the great 
 system of Nature. But I know you like stories 
 better than lectures, so I will not tire you by 
 lecturing, but at once proceed to relate some 
 of the stories which I have gathered for you." 
 
 " Oh no. Uncle Thomas, we never feel tired 
 of listening to you ; we know you have always 
 something curious to tell us. "
 
 INTRODUCTION. 6 
 
 "Well then, Boys, I will begin with the 
 Horse. I have so many stories about the in- 
 telligence, sagacity, and docility of that noble 
 animal however; that I must now tell you a 
 few only, referring you for the others to 
 Stories about Horses, where you will find 
 many more, quite equal in interest to any of the 
 Stories which I have told you." 
 " Thank you. Uncle Thomas ! " 
 " In some parts of the world there are to be 
 found large herds of wild Horses. In South 
 America, in particular, immense plains are in- 
 habited by them, and, it is said, that so many 
 as ten thousand are sometimes found in a single 
 herd. They are always preceded by a leader, 
 who directs their motions; and such is the 
 regularity with which they perform their move- 
 ments, that it seems almost as if they could not 
 be surpassed by the beslrtrained cavalry. 
 
 " It is extremely dangerous for travellers to 
 encounter a herd of this description. When 
 unaccustomed to the sight of such an immense 
 
 b2
 
 4 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 multitude of animals, they cannot help feeling 
 greatly alarmed at their rapid and apparently 
 irresistible approach. Their trampling sounds 
 like the loudest thunder; and such is the ra- 
 pidity and impetuosity of their advance, that it 
 seems to threaten instant destruction. Suddenly, 
 however, they stop short, utter a loud and 
 piercing neigh, and, with a rapid wheel in an 
 opposite course, sometimes altogether disappear. 
 On such occasions, it requires all the care of the 
 traveller to prevent his Horses from breaking 
 loose and escaping with the wild herd." 
 
 '' I have heard that wild Horses are very 
 watchful, Uncle Thomas." 
 
 " They are so, Harry. Knowing that they 
 are ill-prepared for fighting, and that their 
 safety is in flight, when they sleep, they always 
 appoint one to act as sentinel. If it sees any 
 suspicious object approach, it walks up to it 
 for the purpose of ascertaining if there is dan- 
 ger, and, if necessary, to prevent a nearer 
 advance. If, however, the assailant is not to be
 
 1^
 
 !V ,<.i.;^> 
 
 " He dexterously throws the lasso in such a manner as 
 to entangle the animal's hind legs." 
 
 Page 5.
 
 HABITS OF THE WILD HORSE. O 
 
 deterred, the sentinel sounds the alarm by 
 uttering a peculiar neigh, which rouses the 
 whole herd, and all gallop away." 
 
 "Are they ever caught, then. Uncle Thomas'?" 
 " Oh yes, Frank. In those countries where 
 Horses are so plentiful the inhabitants seldom 
 take the trouble to rear them, but, when they 
 want one, mount upon an animal which has been 
 accustomed to the sport, and gallop over the 
 plain towards the herd, which is generally found 
 at no great distance. Gradually he approaches 
 some stragglers from the main body, and, 
 having selected the animal which he wishes to 
 possess, he dexterously throws the lasso (which 
 is a long rope with a running noose, and which 
 is firmly fixed to his saddle) in such a manner 
 as to entangle its hmd legs ; and, with a sudden 
 jerk, he pulls it over on its side. In an 
 instant he jumps off his horse, wraps his 
 poncho^ or cloak, round the captive's head, fixes 
 a bit into its mouth, and a saddle upon its 
 back. He then removes the cloak, leaps into
 
 b STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 the saddle, and the animal starts on its feet. 
 In spite of its contortions and kickings, the 
 hunter keeps his seat till the animal, having 
 wearied itself out with its vain efforts, submits 
 to the discipline of its captor, who seldom fails 
 to reduce it to complete obedience." 
 
 " That is very dexterous indeed, Uncle Tho- 
 mas ; but surely all Horses are not originally 
 found in this wild stated I have heard that the 
 Arabians are famous for rearing them." 
 
 " Arabia has for a long time been noted, 
 Frank, for the symmetry and speed of its 
 Horses : so much attention has been paid, how- 
 ever, to the breeding of them in our own country, 
 for the race-course as well as the hunting-field, 
 tiiat the English Horses are now almost un- 
 equalled both for speed and endurance. 
 
 " It is little wonder that the Arabian Horse 
 should be very excellent, considering the 
 care and attention which it receives, and the 
 kindness and consideration with which it is 
 treated. One of the best stories which I ever
 
 THE ARABIAN HORSE. / 
 
 heard of the love of an Arab for his steed is 
 that related of one from whom one of our en- 
 voys v^ished to purchase his Horse, 
 
 " The animal v^as a bright bay mare, of extra- 
 ordinary shape and beauty; and the ov^ner, 
 proud of its appearance and qualities, paraded 
 it before the envoy's tent until it attracted his 
 attention. On being asked if he would sell her, 
 ' What will you give me '? ' was the reply. ' That 
 depends upon her age; I suppose she is past 
 five"?' 'Guess again,' said he. 'Four*?' 
 ' Look at her mouth,' said the Arab, with a 
 smile. On examination she was found to be 
 rising three. This, from her size and symmetry, 
 greatly enhanced her value. The envoy said, ' I 
 will give you fifty tomans' (a coin nearly of 
 the value of a sovereign). ' A little more, if 
 you please,' said the fellow, somewhat enter- 
 tained. ' Eighty — a hundred.' He shook his 
 head and smiled. The officer at last came to 
 two hundred tomans. ' Well,' said the Arab, 
 'you need not tempt me farther. You are a
 
 8 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 rich elchee (nobleman) ; you have fine Horses, 
 Camels, and Mules, and I am told you have 
 loads of silver and gold. Now,' added he, 
 'you want my mare, but you shall not have 
 her for all you have got.' He put spurs to 
 his Horse, and was soon out of the reach of 
 temptation. 
 
 " Swift as the Arabian Horses are, however, 
 they are frequently matched by those of our own 
 country. I say nothing about Race Horses^ 
 because, though some of them are recorded to 
 have run at an amazing speed, the effort is ge- 
 nerally continued for but a short time. Here 
 is an instance of speed in a Horse which saved 
 its unworthy master from the punishment due to 
 his crimes : — 
 
 " One morning, about four o'clock, a gentle- 
 man was stopped and robbed by a highwayman 
 named Nicks, at Gadshill, on the west side of 
 Chatham. He was mounted on a bay mare of 
 great speed and endurance, and as soon as he 
 had accomplished his purpose, he instantly
 
 SPEED OF THE HORSE. ^ 
 
 Started for Gravesend, where he was detained 
 nearly an hour by the difficulty of getting a boat. 
 He employed the interval to advantage however 
 by baiting his Horse. From thence he crossed 
 the Thames, and landing in Essex proceeded 
 to Chelmsford where he again stopped about 
 half an hour for refreshment. He then went 
 to Braintree, Bocking, Withersfield, over the 
 Downs to Cambridge, and, still pursuing the 
 cross roads, he went by Fenney Stanton to Hunt- 
 ingdon, where he again rested about half an hour. 
 Proceeding now on the north road, at a full 
 gallop most of the way, he arrived at York the 
 same afternoon, put off his boots and riding 
 clothes, and went dressed to the bowling-green, 
 where, among other promenaders, happened to 
 be the Lord Mayor of the city. He there tried 
 to do something particular, that his lordship 
 might remember him, and asking what o'clock 
 it was, the mayor informed him that it was a 
 quarter past eight. Notwithstanding all these 
 prcautions, however, he was discovered, and tried
 
 10 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 for the robbery; he rested his defence on the 
 fact of his being at York at the time mentioned, 
 and argued from this, that it was impossible he 
 could have been at Gadshill at the time of the 
 robbery. The gentleman swore positively to 
 the time and place at which the robbery was 
 committed, but, on the other hand, the proof 
 was equally clear that the prisoner was at York 
 the same evening, and the jury acquitted him 
 on the supposed impossibility of his having got 
 so great a distance from Kent in so short 
 a time." 
 
 " So that he owed his safety to the speed of 
 his Horse, Uncle Thomas'? " 
 
 "He did so, Harry. The Horse can on occa- 
 sion swim as well as most other animals, yet it 
 never takes to the water unless urged to do so. 
 Here is a story about a Horse saving the lives 
 of many persons who had suffered shipwreck 
 by being driven upon the rocks at the Cape of 
 Good Hope, which, I am sure, will interest you 
 as much for the perseverance and docility of the
 
 DOCILITY OF THE HORSE. 11 
 
 animal, as for the benevolence and intrepidity 
 of its owner: — 
 
 " A violent gale of wind setting in from 
 north and north-west, a vessel in the roads 
 dragged her anchors, was forced on the rocks, 
 and bulged ; and while the greater part of the 
 crew fell an immediate sacrifice to the waves, 
 the remainder were seen from the shore strug- 
 gling for their lives, by clinging to the different 
 pieces of the wreck. The sea ran dreadfully 
 high, and broke over the sailors with such amaz- 
 ing fury, that no boat whatever could venture 
 off to their assistance. Meanwhile a planter, 
 considerably advanced in life, had come from 
 his farm to be a spectator of the shipwreck; 
 his heart was melted at the sight of the un- 
 happy seamen, and knowing the bold and en- 
 terprising spirit of his Horse, and his particular 
 excellence as a swimmer, he instantly deter- 
 mined to make a desperate effort for their de- 
 liverance. He alighted and blew a little brandy 
 into his Horse's nostrils, and again seating him-
 
 12 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 self in the saddle, he instantly pushed into the 
 midst of the breakers. At first both disap- 
 peared, but it was not long before they floated 
 on the surface, and swam up to the wreck; 
 when taking with him two men, each of whom 
 held by one of his stirrups, he brought them 
 safe to shore. This perilous expedition he 
 repeated no less than seven times, and saved 
 fourteen lives; but on his return the eighth 
 time, being much fatigued, and meeting 
 a most formidable wave, he lost his balance, 
 and was overwhelmed in a moment. The 
 Horse swam safely to land, but his gallant 
 rider sank to rise no more." 
 
 " That was very unfortunate. Uncle Thomas. 
 I suppose the planter had been so fatigued by 
 his previous exertions, that he had not strength 
 to struggle with the strong waves." 
 
 " Most likely, Harry. I dare say the poor 
 animal felt the loss of this kind owner very 
 much, for the Horse soon becomes attached 
 to his master, and exhibits traits of intelli-
 
 AFFECTION OF THE HORSE. 13 
 
 gence and fidelity, certainly not surpassed by 
 those of any other animal: for instance, — A 
 gentleman, who was one dark night riding 
 home through a wood, had the misfortune to 
 strike his head against the branch of a tree, and 
 fell from his Horse stunned by the blow. The 
 noble animal immediately returned to the house 
 which they had left, which stood about a mile 
 distant. He found the door closed, — the family 
 had retired to bed. He pawed at it, however, 
 till one of them, hearing the noise, arose and 
 opened it, and to his surprise, saw the Horse of 
 his friend. No sooner was the door opened 
 than the Horse turned round as if it wished to 
 be followed ; and the man, suspecting there 
 was something wrong, followed the animal, 
 which led him directly to the spot where 
 its wounded master lay on the ground. 
 
 " There is another story of a somewhat 
 similar description in which he saved his master 
 from perishing among the snow; it happened 
 in the North of Scotland : —
 
 14 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " A gentleman connected with the Excise 
 was returning home from one of his professional 
 journies. His way lay across a range of hills, 
 the road over which was so blocked up with 
 snow as to leave no trace of it discernible. 
 Uncertain how to proceed, he resolved to trust 
 to his Horse, and throwing loose the reins, 
 allowed him to choose his course. The ani- 
 mal proceeded cautiously, and safely for some 
 time, till, coming to a ravine, both Horse and 
 rider sunk in a snow-wreath several fathoms 
 deep. 
 
 " Stunned by the suddenness and depth of 
 the descent, the gentleman lay for some time in- 
 sensible. On recovering he found himself 
 nearly three yards from the dangerous spot, 
 with his faithful Horse standing over him, 
 licking the snow from his face. He accounted 
 for his extrication, by supposing that the bridle 
 must have been attached to his person, but so 
 completely had he lost all consciousness that, 
 beyond the bare fact as stated, he had no
 
 FRIENDSHIP OF ANIMALS. 15 
 
 knowledge of the means by which he had made 
 so remarkable an escape." 
 
 " It was at any rate very kind in the Horse 
 to clear away the snow, Uncle Thomas." 
 
 ^' No doubt of it, John, and perhaps he owed 
 his life quite as much to this act of kindness, as 
 to being pulled out of the ravine. He might 
 have been as certainly choked by the snow out 
 of it as in it. Sometimes the Horse becomes 
 much attached to the animals with which it 
 associates, and its feelings of friendship are as 
 powerful as those of the dog. A gentleman of 
 Bristol had a Greyhound, which slept in the 
 same stable and contracted a very great inti- 
 macy, with a fine Hunter. When the dog was 
 taken out, the horse neighed wistfully after it, 
 and seemed to long for its return ; he welcomed 
 it home with a neigh ; the greyhound ran up to 
 the horse and licked him ; the horse, in return, 
 scratched the greyhound's back with his teeth. 
 On one occasion, when the groom had the 
 pair out for exercise, a large dog attacked the
 
 16 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 greyhound, bore him to the ground, and seemed 
 likely to worry him, when the horse threw 
 back his ears, rushed forward, seized the strange 
 dog by the back, and flung him to a distance, 
 which so terrified the aggressor, that he at once 
 desisted and made off." 
 
 " That was very kind. Uncle Thomas. I 
 like to hear of such instances of friendship be- 
 tween animals." 
 
 " Such a docile animal as the Horse, Boys, 
 can readily be trained to particular habits, and 
 does not readily forget them, however disrepu- 
 table. There is an odd story to illustrate this : — 
 
 " About the middle of last century, a Scot- 
 tish Lawyer had occasion to visit the metro- 
 polis. At that period such journeys were 
 usually performed on horseback, and the tra- 
 veller might either ride post, or if willing to 
 travel economically he bought a horse before 
 setting out, and sold it at the end of his journey. 
 The lawyer had chosen the latter mode of tra- 
 velling, and sold the animal on which he rode
 
 DOCILITY OF THE HORSE. It 
 
 from Scotland as soon as he arrived in London. 
 With a view to his return, he went to 
 Smithfield to purchase a Horse. About dusk 
 a handsome one was offered at so cheap a rate 
 that he suspected the soundness of the animal, 
 but being able to discover no blemish, he 
 became the purchaser. 
 
 " Next morning, he set out on his journey; 
 the Horse had excellent paces, and our traveller 
 while riding over the few first miles, where the 
 road was well frequented, did not fail to con- 
 gratulate himself on his good fortune, which had 
 led him to make so advantageous a bargain. 
 
 " They arrived at last at Finchley Common, 
 and at a place where the road ran down a slight 
 eminence, and up another, the lawyer met a cler- 
 gyman driving a one-horse chaise. There was 
 nobody within sight, and the Horse by his con- 
 duct instantly discovered the profession of his 
 former owner. Instead of pursuing his journey, 
 he ran close up to the chaise and stopped it, 
 having no doubt but his rider would embrace
 
 18 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 SO favourable an opportunity for exercising his 
 calling. The clergyman seemed of the same 
 opinion, produced his purse unasked, and as- 
 sured the astonished lawyer that it was quite 
 unnecessary to draw his pistol, as he did not 
 intend to offer any resistance. The traveller 
 rallied his Horse, and wdth many apologies to 
 the gentleman he had so innnocently and un- 
 willingly affrighted, pursued his journey. 
 
 " They had not proceeded far till the Horse 
 again made the same suspicious approach to a 
 coach, from the window of which a blunder- 
 buss was levelled, with denunciations of death 
 and destruction to the hapless and perplexed 
 rider. In short, after his life had been several 
 times endangered by the suspicions to which the 
 conduct of his Horse gave rise, and his liberty 
 as often threatened by the peace officers, who 
 were disposed to apprehend him as a notorious 
 highwayman who had been the former owner of 
 the Horse, he was obliged to part with the 
 inauspicious animal at a low price, and to pur-
 
 INTELLIGENCE OF THE HORSE. 19 
 
 chase, for a high sum, one;;less beautiful, but not 
 accustomed to such dangerous habits." 
 
 " Capital, Uncle Thomas ! I should have 
 liked to have seen the perplexed look of the 
 poor lawyer, when he saw the blunderbuss 
 make its appearance at the carriage window ! " 
 
 " There is one other story about the Horse, 
 Boys, illustrative of its kindness and considera- 
 tion, which I must tell you before we leave 
 this intelligent and docile animal. A Horse 
 which was remarkable for the peculiarity of its 
 temper, and for its antipathy to strangers, 
 among other bad propensities, constantly re- 
 sented the attempts of the groom to trim its 
 fetlocks. This circumstance happened to be 
 mentioned by its owner in conversation, in the 
 presence of his youngest child, a very few years 
 old, when he defied any man to perform the 
 operation unassisted. The father next day, in 
 passing through the stable-yard, beheld with the 
 utmost distress, the infant employed with a pair 
 of scissors attempting to clip the fetlocks of the 
 c2
 
 20 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 hind legs of this vicious hunter — an operation 
 which had been always performed with great 
 danger, even by a number of men. Instead, 
 however, of exhibiting his usual vicious dispo- 
 sition, the Horse, in the present case, was looking 
 with the greatest complacency on the little 
 groom, who soon after, to the very great relief 
 of his father, walked off unhurt." 
 
 " That was indeed a singular instance of 
 docility. Uncle Thomas ! " 
 
 " It was so, Frank, and many more might be 
 told, but, I must stop for the evening — good 
 night, Boys." 
 
 " Good night, Uncle Thomas ! "
 
 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS TELL3 ABOUT THE HABITS OP THE BEAVER ; ALSO 
 ABOUT THE CURIOUS NESTS OF THE SOCIABLE GROSBEAK; AND GIVES 
 A LONG AND BNTKRTAINING ACCOUNT OF THE WHITE ANT OF AFRICA, 
 AND THE IMPORTANT PART WHICH IT ACTS IN THE ECONOMY OP 
 NATURE. 
 
 " Good evening, Boys ! I am going to tell 
 you about a very singular animal to-night — 
 singular both in its conformation and its 
 habits. I allude to the Beaver." 
 
 "Oh, we shall be so glad to hear about 
 the Beaver, Uncle Thomas. I have sometimes 
 v^rondered what sort of an animal it is. It is of 
 its skin that hats are made — is it not '? " 
 
 " It is so, Harry — at least it is of the fur with 
 which its skin is covered. But our business 
 now is with the Beaver itself. I think we shall
 
 22 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 get on better by confining our attention to the 
 Habits and Instincts of the animal at present, 
 leaving its uses for future consideration." 
 
 " Very well, Uncle Thomas, we are all at- 
 tention." 
 
 " The Beaver, which is now only to be found 
 in the more inaccessible parts of America, and 
 the northern countries of Europe, affords a cu- 
 rious instance of what may be called a compound 
 vStructure. It has the fore-feet of a land animal, 
 and the hind ones of an aquatic one — the latter 
 only being webbed. Its tail is covered with 
 scales like a fish, and serves to direct its course 
 in the water, in which it spends much of its 
 time. 
 
 " On the rivers where they abound, they form 
 societies sometimes consisting of upwards of 
 two hundred. They begin to assemble about 
 the months of July or August, and generally 
 choose for the place of their fiiture habitation 
 the side of a lake or river. If a lake in which 
 the water is always pretty nearly of a uniform
 
 HABITS OF THE BEAVER. 23 
 
 level, they dispense with building a dam, but if 
 the place they fix upon be the banks of a river, 
 which is liable to fluctuations in height ; they 
 immediately set about constructing a pier or 
 dam to confine the water, so that they may 
 always have a good supply. This dam, they 
 build more or less solid according to the 
 strength of the current, always taking care to 
 make it of the form which offers the greatest 
 resistance to the flowing of the water." 
 
 " That is very singular, Uncle Thomas. I 
 suppose it is their Instinct which teaches them 
 to act in this manner." 
 
 " You are right, Frank. Well, the mode in 
 which they set about constructing the dam is 
 this : having fixed upon the spot they go into 
 the neighbouring forest, and cut quantities of 
 the smaller trees, which they forthwith convey 
 to the place selected, and having fixed them in 
 the earth, interweave them strongly and closely, 
 filling up all the crevices with mud and stones, 
 so as soon to make a most compact structure.
 
 24 STORIES ABOUT INTINCT. 
 
 Sometimes even the trees take root, and the birds 
 build their nests in the branches." 
 
 " It must be a work of very great labour, to 
 make a dam of this sort, Uncle Thomas." 
 
 " The labour is very considerable, Boys ; but 
 the power which, for want of a better name, we 
 call Instinct, comes wonderfully to their aid. 
 For instance, it has been observed that they 
 seek all the trees which they want, on the banks 
 of the river, higher up than their building, so 
 that having once got them into the water, 
 they are easily floated to it. The same won- 
 derful power also teaches them to gnaw the 
 trees, and cause them to fall on the side 
 nearest the water, so as to convey them to it 
 with the least possible labour." 
 
 " Very good. Uncle Thomas." 
 
 " When the Beavers have finished the dam, 
 they then proceed to construct houses for them- 
 selves. First they dig a foundation of a size 
 proportioned to the number of the family which 
 is to inhabit it. They then form the walls of earth
 
 HABITS OF THE BEAVER. 25 
 
 and stones, mixed with billets of wood crossing 
 each other, and thus tying the fabric together 
 just in the same way as you sometimes see 
 masons do in building human dwellings. Their 
 huts which are made to accommodate about four 
 old ones, and six or eight young, are generally 
 shaped something like the figure of a hay-cock, 
 from four to seven feet high, and eight or nine 
 wide, and they have usually several entrances — 
 one or more opening into the river or lake, 
 below the surface of the water, and one commu- 
 nicating with any bushes or brushwood which 
 may be at hand, so as to afford the means of 
 escape in case of attack either on the land or 
 water side." 
 
 " They must be pretty safe then. Uncle 
 Thomas, since they can so readily escape." 
 
 " They are secure enough, Frank, so long as 
 they have only irrational or half-reasoning ani- 
 mals to contend with ; but when man, armed 
 with the power before which mere Instmct 
 must at all times bow, attacks them, they are
 
 26 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 very easily overcome. Shall I tell you how the 
 hunters capture them'? " 
 
 " If you please, Uncle Thomas." 
 
 " Very well. I must first tell you that the 
 skin of the Beaver is most valuable during 
 winter, as the fur is then thicker and finer 
 than during the summer. They are therefore 
 very little, if at all, molested during this season 
 by the hunters. When winter sets in however, 
 and the lakes and rivers are frozen over, the 
 hunters set out to seek for the beaver colonies, 
 and, having found them, they make a number of 
 holes in the ice. They then break down the 
 huts, and the animals escape into the water as 
 a place of safety. As they cannot remain long 
 under water, however, they soon have occasion 
 to come to the surface to breathe, and of course 
 make for the holes which the hunters have 
 formed in the ice, when some of the latter, who 
 are waiting in readiness, knock them on the 
 head." 
 
 " But, Uncle Thomas, is it not very cruel to
 
 HABITS OF THE BEAVER. 27 
 
 kill the Beavers so? They feed entirely on ve- 
 getables, I believe, and do no harm to any one." 
 
 "You might say the same, John, of the 
 Sheep on the downs ; the one is not more cruel 
 than the other: both are useful to man, and 
 fiimish him with food as well as raiment, and 
 both were, of course, included in the ' dominion' 
 which God originally gave to man ' over the 
 beasts of the field.'" 
 
 " Is the Beaver used for food, then, Uncle 
 Thomas?" 
 
 " It is, John, and except during a small part 
 of the year, when it feeds on the root of the 
 water-lily, which communicates a peculiar fla- 
 vour to its flesh, it is said to be very palatable. 
 It is, however, principally for its fur that it is 
 hunted ; the skin, even, is of little value, being 
 coarser and looser in texture, and less applicable 
 to general uses, than that of many other animals. 
 I dare say you have often seen it made into 
 gloves. " 
 
 " Oh yes, Uncle Thomas?"
 
 28 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " I will now, Boys, read to you an account of 
 a tame Beaver, which its owner, Mr. Broderip, 
 communicated to ' The Gardens and Menage- 
 ries of the Zoological Society:' — 
 
 " The animal arrived in this country in the 
 winter of 1825, very young, being small and 
 woolly, and without the covering of long hair, 
 which marks the adult Beaver. It was the sole 
 survivor of five or six which were shipped at 
 the same time, and was in a very pitiable con- 
 dition. Good treatment soon made it familiar. 
 When called by its name, ' Binny,' it generally 
 answered with a little cry, and came to its 
 owner. The hearth rug was its favourite 
 haunt, and thereon it would lie, stretched out, 
 sometimes on its back, and sometimes flat on 
 its belly, but always near its master. The 
 building Instinct showed itself immediately af- 
 ter it was let out of its cage, and materials were 
 placed in its way, — and this, before it had 
 been a week in its new quarters. Its strength, 
 even before it was half grown, was great. It
 
 HABITS OF THE BEAVER. 29 
 
 would drag along a large sweeping-brush, or 
 a warming-pan, grasping the handle with his 
 teeth, so that the load came over its shoul- 
 der, and advancing in an oblique direction, 
 till it arrived at the point where it wished to 
 place it. The long and large materials were 
 always taken first, and two of the longest 
 were generally laid crosswise, with one of the 
 ends of each touching the wall, and the other 
 ends projecting out into the room. The area 
 formed by the crossed brushes and the wall he 
 would fill up with hand-brushes, rush baskets, 
 books, boots, sticks, cloths, dried turf, or any 
 thing portable. As the work grew high, he 
 supported himself on his tail, which propped 
 him up admirably: and he would often, after 
 laying on one of his building materials, sit up 
 over against it, apparently to consider his work, 
 or, as the country people say, 'judge it.' This 
 pause was sometimes followed by changing the 
 position of the material ' judged,' and sometimes 
 it was left in its place. After he had piled
 
 30 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 up his materials in one part of the room (for 
 he generally chose the same place), he proceeded 
 to wall up the space between the feet of a chest 
 (^ drawers which stood at a little distance from 
 it, high enough on its legs to make the bottom 
 a roof for him; using for this purpose dried 
 turf and sticks, which he laid very even, and 
 filling up the interstices with bits of coal, hay, 
 cloth, or any thing he could pick up. This 
 last place he seemed to appropriate for his 
 dwelling; the former work seemed to be in- 
 tended for a dam. When he had walled up 
 the space between the feet of the chest of draw- 
 ers, he proceeded to carry in sticks, clothes, hay, 
 cotton, and to make a nest ; and, when he had 
 done, he would sit up under the drawers, and 
 comb himself with the nails of his hind feet. 
 In this operation that which appeared at first 
 to be a malformation, was shown to be a beau- 
 tiful adaptation to the necessities of the animal. 
 The huge webbed hind feet often turn in, so 
 as to give the appearance of defonnities ; but
 
 HABITS OF THE BEAVER. 31 
 
 if the toes were straight, instead of being in- 
 curved, the animal could not use them for the 
 purpose of keeping its fur in order, and cleans- 
 ing it from dirt and moisture. 
 
 " Binny generally carried small and light 
 articles between his right fore leg and his chin, 
 walking on the other three legs ; and large 
 masses, which he could not grasp readily with 
 his teeth, he pushed forwards, leaning against 
 them with his right fore paw and his chin. He 
 never carried anything on his tail, which he 
 liked to dip in water, but he was not fond of 
 plunging in his whole body. If his tail was 
 kept moist, he never cared to drink, but if it was 
 kept dry, it became hot and the animal appeared 
 distressed, and would drink a great deal. It is 
 not impossible that the tail may have the power 
 of absorbing water like the skin of frogs, though 
 it must be owned, that the scaly integument 
 which invests that member has not much of the 
 character which generally belongs to absorbing 
 surfaces.
 
 32 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 "Bread, and bread and milk, and sugar, formed 
 the principal part of Binny's food ; but he was 
 very fond of succulent fruits and roots. He was 
 a most entertaining creature ; and some highly 
 comic scenes occurred between the worthy, but 
 slow Beaver, and a light and airy macauco, that 
 was kept in the same apartment." 
 
 " I think I have read, Uncle Thomas, that 
 Beavers use their tails as trowels to plaster 
 their houses, and as sledges to carry the ma- 
 terials to build their huts." 
 
 " I dare say, you have, Frank ; but such 
 stories are mere fables told by the ignorant to 
 excite wonder in the minds of the credulous. 
 No such operations have been observed by the 
 most accurate observers of the animal's habits. 
 The wonderful Instinct which they display in 
 building their houses, and in laying up a store 
 of food as a provision against winter are quite 
 sufficient to excite our Avonder and admiration, 
 without having recourse to false and exaggerated 
 statements." 
 
 <=x
 
 HABITS OF THE BEAVER. 33 
 
 " The building Instinct of the Beaver is very 
 singular, Uncle Thomas. Is it displayed by 
 any other animal T' 
 
 " All animals exhibit it more or less, Harry, 
 and birds in particular, in the construction of 
 their nests, some of which are very curious 
 indeed; perhaps one of the most striking in- 
 stances is that of the Sociable Grosbeak, a bird 
 which is found in the interior of the Cape of 
 Good Hope. They construct their nests un- 
 der one roof, which they form of the branches 
 of some tall and wide-spreading tree, thatching 
 it all over as it were, with a species of grass. 
 
 " When they have got their habitation fairly 
 covered in they lay out the inside, according to 
 some travellers, into regular streets, with nests 
 on both sides, about a couple of inches apart 
 from each other. In one respect, however, they 
 differ from the Beaver, they do not appear to 
 lay up a common store of food, the nature of 
 the climate not rendering such a precaution 
 necessary. 
 
 D
 
 34 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " Here is the account of one of these nests 
 furnished by a gentleman who minutely ex- 
 amined it ; — 
 
 " I observed on the way a tree with an 
 enormous nest of those birds to which I have 
 given the appellation of republicans ; and, as 
 soon as I arrived at my camp, I despatched 
 a few men, with a waggon, to bring it to me, 
 that I might open the hive, and examine the 
 structure in its minutest parts. When it ar- 
 rived, I cut it in pieces with a hatchet, and 
 found that the chief portion of it consisted of 
 a mass of Boshman's grass, without any mix- 
 ture, but so compact and firmly basketed 
 together as to be impenetrable to the rain. 
 This is the commencement of the structure ; 
 and each bird builds its particular nest under 
 this canopy. But the nests are formed only 
 beneath the eaves of the canopy, the upper 
 surface remaining void, without, however, being 
 useless ; for, as it has a projecting rim, and is 
 a little inclined, it serves to let the rain-water
 
 THE SOCIABLE GROSBEAK. 35 
 
 run off, and preserves each little dwelling from 
 the wet. Figure to yourself a huge irregular 
 sloping roof, and all the eaves of which are 
 completely covered with nests, crowded one 
 against another, and you will have a tolerahly 
 accurate idea of these singular edifices. 
 
 " Each individual nest is three or four inches 
 in diameter, which is sufficient for the bird. 
 But as they are all in contact with one another, 
 around the eaves, they appear to the eye to 
 form but one building, and are distinguishable 
 from each other only by a little external aper- 
 ture, which serves as an entrance to the nest ; 
 and even this is sometimes common to three 
 different nests, one of which is situated at the 
 bottom, and the other two at the sides. 
 
 " The large nest which I examined was one 
 of the most considerable which I had seen any 
 where on my journey, and contained three 
 hundred and twenty inhabited cells." 
 
 " Well, Uncle Thomas, that is very curious ; 
 I don't know which most to admire. I rather 
 d2
 
 36 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 incline to the Beaver however, because of the 
 winter store of food which it lays up." 
 
 " There is another little animal, Boys, which 
 displays the building instinct so remarkably, 
 that I must tell you something about it before 
 we part." 
 
 '^ Which is it, Uncle Thomas T 
 
 " It is the White Ant of Africa ; a little 
 creature, scarcely, if at all, exceeding in size 
 the Ants of our own country, yet they construct 
 large nests of a conical or sugar-loaf shape, 
 sometimes from ten to twelve feet high ; and 
 one species builds them so strong and com- 
 pact, that even when they are raised to little 
 more than half their height, the wild-bulls of 
 the country use them as sentinel posts to watch 
 over the safety of the herd which grazes below. 
 
 " Mr. Smeathman, a naturalist who examined 
 those Ants nests with great care, states, that on 
 one occasion he and four men stood on the top of 
 one of them. So you may guess how strong they 
 are,"
 
 NEST OF THE WHITE ANT. 37 
 
 "What are they made of, Uncle Thomas'? 
 They must be very curious structures. How 
 very different from the ant hills of England !" 
 
 " Very different, indeed, John. They are 
 made of clay and sand, and as in such a luxu- 
 riant climate they soon become coated over 
 with grass, they quickly assume the appear- 
 ance of hay-cocks. They are indeed very re- 
 markable structures, whether we consider them 
 externally or internally, and are said to excel 
 in the skilMness of their construction and in the 
 niceness of their adaptation to the wants of the 
 animal, those of the Beaver and the Bee in the 
 same proportion as the habitations of the most 
 polished European nations excel the huts of the 
 rude inhabitants of the country where the 
 Termites or w4iite ants abound ; while, in re- 
 gard to mere size, Mr. Smeathman calculates 
 that, supposing a man's ordinary height to be 
 six feet, the nests of these creatures may be 
 considered to bear the same relation to their 
 size as that of a man does to a building raised
 
 38 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 to four times tbe height of the largest Egyptian 
 pyramids'." 
 
 '• That is enormous, Uncle Thomas !" 
 " It is indeed, Frank ; but strange though it 
 is, in this point of view, the interior of the nest 
 is even more remarkable, many parts of its 
 construction falling little short of human in- 
 genuity. I need not attempt to describe all its 
 arrangements, which, without a plan, would be 
 nearly unintelligible ; but there is one device 
 so admirable that I must point it out to you. 
 The nest is formed of two floors, as it were, 
 and all round the walls are galleries perforated 
 in various winding directions, and leading to 
 the store-houses of the colony, or to the nur- 
 series where the eggs are deposited. As it is 
 sometimes convenient, however, to reach the 
 galleries which open from the upper roof with- 
 out threading all the intricacies of these winding 
 passages, they construct a bridge of a single 
 arch, between the floor of the nest and its dome, 
 if I may so call it^ and thus at once reach the
 
 NEST OF THE WHITE ANT. 39 
 
 upper roof, from which these passages diverge. 
 They are thus saved much labour, in trans- 
 porting provisions, and in bearing the eggs to 
 the places where they are to remain till they 
 are hatched." 
 
 " That is indeed admirable, Uncle Thomas ; 
 they must be very curious animals." 
 
 "They divide themselves, Frank, into differ- 
 ent classes, in the same way as Bees ; choosing 
 a queen, and some of them acting as workers, 
 kc. But the White Ants have a class to which 
 there is nothing similar among any other race 
 of insects. These are what Smeathman calls 
 soldiers, from the duties which they perform. 
 They are much less numerous than the workers, 
 being somewhat in the proportion of one in 
 one hundred. The duty of the soldier-insects 
 is to protect the nest when it is attacked. 
 They are furnished with long and slender jaws, 
 and when enraged bite very fiercely, and some- 
 times drive off the negroes who may have at- 
 tacked them, and even white people suffer
 
 40 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 severely, — a bite even through the stocking 
 bleeding profusely. Some one who observed 
 the colony alarmed, by having part of the nest 
 broken down, gives the following account of 
 the subsequent operations. One of the soldiers 
 first makes his appearance, as if to see if the 
 enemy be gone, and to learn whence the attack 
 proceeds. By and by two or three others 
 follow, and soon afterwards a numerous body 
 rushes out, which increases in number so long 
 as the attack is continued. They are at this 
 time in a state of the most violent agitation; 
 some employed in beating upon the building 
 with their mandibles, so as to make a noise 
 which may be distinctly heard at the distance 
 of three or four feet. Whenever the attack is 
 discontinued, the soldiers retire, and quickly 
 re-appear followed by another class which may be 
 called labourers, which hasten in various direc- 
 tions towards the breach, each with a burden 
 of mortar ready tempered, and thus they soon 
 repair the damage. Besides the duty of pro-
 
 NEST OF THE WHITE ANT. 41 
 
 tecting the colony, the soldiers seem to act as 
 overseers of the work, one being generally in 
 attendance on every six or eight hundred la- 
 bourers. One, v\^ho may be looked on as 
 commander in chief, takes up his station 
 close to the wall which they are repairing, 
 and frequently repeats the beating which I 
 just mentioned, which is instantly answered 
 by a loud hiss from all the labourers within 
 the dome, — those at work working with 
 redoubled energy . ' ' 
 
 "But, Uncle Thomas, what can be the use 
 of such animals as White Ants ^ I really can- 
 not see what use they are for." 
 
 " Well, John, I confess I do not much won- 
 der at your question though in putting it, 
 you have forgotten that God makes nothing 
 in vain. Mr. Smeathman, who tells us so much 
 about these curious animals, has answered 
 you by anticipation; and his answer is in 
 such a spirit that I cannot do better than read 
 it to you : —
 
 42 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " It may appear surprising," he says, "how a 
 Being perfectly good should have created ani- 
 mals which seem to serve no other end but to 
 spread destruction and desolation wherever they 
 go. But let us be cautious in suspecting any 
 imperfection in the Father of the Universe. 
 What at first sight may seem only productive 
 of mischief will, upon mature deliberation, be 
 found Avorthy of that wisdom which planned 
 the most beautiful parts of the world. Many 
 poisons are valuable medicines. Storms are 
 beneficial; and diseases often promote life. 
 These Termites are indeed frequently perni- 
 cious to mankind, but they are also very use- 
 ful and even necessary. One valuable purpose 
 which they serve is to destroy decayed trees 
 and other substances which, if left on the 
 surface of the ground in hot climates, would 
 in a short time pollute the air. In this respect 
 they resemble very much the common flies, 
 which are regarded by mankind in general as 
 noxious and, albeit, as useless beings in crea-
 
 UTILITY OF THE WHITE ANT, 43 
 
 tion. But this is certainly for want of conside- 
 ration. There are not probably in all nature 
 animals of more importance, and it would not 
 be difficult to prove that we should feel the 
 want of one or two large quadru|)eds much 
 less than of one or two species of these des- 
 picable-looking insects. Mankind in general 
 are sensible that nothing is more disagreeable 
 or more pestiferous than putrid substances; 
 and it is apparent to all who have made ob- 
 servation, that those little insects contribute 
 more to the quick dissolution and dispersion 
 of putrescent matter than any other. They 
 are so necessary in all hot climates, that even 
 in the open fields a dead animal or small 
 putrid substance cannot be laid upon the 
 ground two minutes before it will be covered 
 with flies and their maggots, which instantly 
 entering, quickly devour one part, and perfo- 
 rating the rest in various directions, expose the 
 whole to be much sooner decomposed by the 
 elements. Thus it is with the Termites. The
 
 44 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 rapid vegetation in hot climates, of which no 
 idea can be formed by any thing to be seen 
 in this, is equalled by as great a degree of 
 destruction from natural as well as accidental 
 causes. It seems apparent that when any- 
 thing whatever has arrived at its last degree 
 of perfection, the Creator has decreed that it 
 shall be wholly destroyed as soon as possible, 
 that the face of nature may be speedily adorned 
 with fresh productions in the bloom of spring, 
 or the pride of summer ; so when trees and even 
 woods are in part destroyed by tornadoes or 
 fire, it is wonderful to observe how many agents 
 are employed in hastening the total dissolution 
 of the rest. But in hot climates there are none 
 so expert, or who do their business so expedi- 
 tiously and effectually, as these insects, which in 
 a few weeks destroy and carry away the bodies 
 of large trees, without leaving a particle behind; 
 thus clearing the place for other vegetables 
 which soon fill up every vacancy: and in places 
 where tw^o or three years before there has been
 
 UTILITY OF THE WHITE ANT. 45 
 
 a populous town, if the inhabitants, as is fre- 
 quently the case, have chosen to abandon it, 
 there shall be a very thick wood, and not a 
 vestige of a post to be seen, unless the wood 
 has been of a species which from its hardness 
 is called iron wood," 
 
 " Thank you. Uncle Thomas. I see, I was 
 quite wrong in supposing that the Ants are of 
 no use. I really did not imagine that they 
 could have been so serviceable."
 
 46 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS DESCRIBES THE MAK.VER IV WHICH WILD ELKPHAVTS ARE 
 CAUGHT, AN'D REl.ATKS SOME CURIOUS STORIES OF THE CUXNlXt, 
 AFFECTION, AN'D INTELLIGENCE OF THE ELEPHANT. 
 
 " Well, Boys, you are once more welcome ! — 
 I am going to tell you some stories about the 
 Elephant to night, which I hope will interest 
 you quite as much as those which I told you 
 about the Dog. Next to the Dog, the Elephant 
 is one of the most intelligent animals; some 
 of his actions, indeed, seem to be rather the 
 result of reason than mere instinct. But I 
 must first tell you about the animal in its native 
 forests. 
 
 " In the luxuriant forests with which a large 
 portion of Asia is covered, this huge animal 
 reigns supreme. Its size and strength easily
 
 ELEPHANT HUNTING. 47 
 
 enable it to overcome the most formidable oppo- 
 nents. The intelligence with which it has been 
 endowed by its Creator would make it a most 
 formidabe enemy to man, but that the same 
 All- wise Being has graciously created it with 
 peaceful and gentle feelings. In its native 
 forests it roams about without seeking to molest 
 any one, and even when caught it very soon 
 becomes gentle and obedient. 
 
 " In the East Indies the Elephant is in very 
 general use as a beast of burden. For this 
 purpose it is hunted and caught in great num- 
 bers by the Natives, who employ some very 
 ingenious devices to deceive them, and to drive 
 them into the ambuscades which they form 
 for them. The manner in which whole herds 
 are captured is as follows : — 
 
 " When the herd is discovered by parties 
 who are sent out in search of it, they first of 
 all note the direction in which it is ranging, as, 
 if their food is plentiful, the quiet unsuspecting 
 animals generally continue to advance in one
 
 48 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 direction for miles together: of this the hunters 
 take advantage and immediately proceed to 
 construct at a considerable distance in front 
 a series of enclosures, into which it isLtheir 
 object to drive them. 
 
 " When every thing is prepared, the hunters 
 sometimes to the number of several hundreds 
 divide themselves into small parties, and form a 
 large circle, so as to surround the herd. Each 
 party generally consists of three men, whose 
 duty it is to light a fire and to clear a 
 footpath betAveen their station and that of 
 their neighbours, so that in this way a com- 
 munication is kept up by the whole circle, and 
 assistance can at once be afforded at any 
 point. 
 
 " New circles are constantly formed at short 
 distances in advance, so as gradually to drive 
 the animals in the required direction. The 
 hunters are all the while concealed by the luxu- 
 riant brushwood or jungle, and do not show 
 themselves to the Elephants at all, but urge
 
 ELEPHANT HUNTING. 49 
 
 them forward by the use of drums, rattles, &c. 
 &c., from the noise of which the animals seek 
 to escape, and thus wander on, feeding as they 
 proceed, toward the toils which are prepared 
 for them. 
 
 " The Jceddah, or trap as it may be called, 
 consists of three enclosures, each formed of 
 strong stockades on the outside of deep ditches ; 
 the innermost one being the strongest, because 
 by the time they arrive in it, the Elephants are 
 generally in a state of great excitement, and 
 would soon break down a frail barrier, and 
 make their escape. 
 
 " As soon as the herd has entered the first 
 enclosure, strong barricades are erected across 
 the entrance ; and as there is no ditch at this 
 point, the hunters take advantage of the intense 
 dread which the animal has of fire, to scare 
 them from this most vulnerable part of the for- 
 tification. Fires are gradually lit all round the 
 first enclosure, so that the only way of escape 
 which is left is by the entrance to the second. 
 
 E
 
 50 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " At first, as if profiting by their former ex- 
 perience they generally shun the entrance to 
 the second of the series, but at last seeing no 
 other chance of escape, the leader of the herd 
 ventures forward, and the rest follow. The gate 
 is instantly shut, and they are in the same 
 manner driven into the third enclosure. Find- 
 ing no outlet from this they become desperate, 
 scream with tremendous violence, and seek to 
 escape by furiously attacking the sides of the 
 stockade. At all points, however, they are 
 repulsed by lighted fires, and the tumultu- 
 ous and exulting shouts of the triumphant 
 hunters. 
 
 " In this place of confinement they remain 
 for several days. When their excitement has 
 somewhat subsided they are enticed one by one 
 to enter a narrow passage leading back to the 
 second enclosure. As soon as one ventures in, 
 the entrance is closed, and as the passage is so 
 narrow that it cannot turn round, it soon 
 fatigues itself by unavailing exertions to beat
 
 ELEPHANT HUNTING. 51 
 
 down the barriers by which it is confined. 
 Strong ropes with running nooses are now laid 
 down, and no sooner does the animal put his 
 foot within one of them, than the rope is drawn 
 tight by some of the hunters who are stationed 
 on a small scaffold, which has in the mean time 
 been raised over the gateway. In the same 
 manner his other feet are secured. When this 
 has been effected, some of the hunters venture 
 to approach, and tie his hind legs together. 
 Having thus secured him, they are able with 
 comparative safety to complete their capture. 
 He is now placed between two tame Elephants, 
 led away to the forest and fastened to a tree; 
 and the same operation is repeated, till the 
 whole herd has been secured. So long as the 
 animals between which he is led away prisoner 
 remain with him the captive is comparatively 
 quiet, but when he sees them depart, he is 
 agitated with all the horrors of despair, and 
 makes the most extravagant attempts to regain 
 his liberty. For some time he refuses to 
 e2
 
 52 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 eat, but gradually becomes resigned, and feeds 
 freely. 
 
 " A keeper is appointed to each animal, as 
 they are secured. His first object is to gain its 
 confidence ; supplying it regularly with food, 
 pouring water over its body to keep it cool, and 
 gradually accustoming it to caresses. In the 
 course of ^Ye or six weeks he generally obtains 
 a complete ascendancy over it; its fetters are 
 removed by degrees, it knows his voice and 
 obeys him, and is then gradually instructed in 
 its future labours." 
 
 " Thank you. Uncle Thomas. I think that 
 we now understand all about Elephant-hunting. 
 I could not imagine how the hunters managed 
 to secure such a huge animal. It seems to 
 be no such difficult task after all." 
 
 " It seems easy enough from description, 
 Frank; but it sometimes happens that they 
 break loose, and, irritated by their efforts to 
 escape, they range about in the most furious 
 manner, and as they are very cunning animals,
 
 CUNNING OF THE ELEPHANT. 53 
 
 it requires all the circumspection of the 
 hunters to counteract their schemes. I recol- 
 lect a story which displays the sagacity and 
 cunning of the Elephant in a very strong 
 light:— 
 
 " During the siege of Bhurtpore, in the year 
 1805, when the British army, with its countless 
 host of followers and attendants, and thousands 
 of cattle, had been for a long time before the 
 city, the approach of the warm season and of 
 the dry hot winds caused the quantity of water 
 in the neighbourhood of the camps to begin to 
 fail ; the ponds or tanks had dried up, and no 
 more water was left than the immense wells of 
 the country could furnish. The multitude of 
 men and cattle that were unceasingly at the 
 >vells occasioned no little struggle for priority in 
 procuring the supply, and the consequent confu- 
 sion on the spot was frequently very consider- 
 able. On one occasion, two Elephant-drivers, 
 each with his Elephant, the one remarkably 
 large and strong, and the other comparatively
 
 54 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 small and weak, were at the well together ; the 
 smaller animal had been provided by his master 
 with a bucket for the occasion, which he carried 
 at the end of his trunk ; but the other one 
 being unprovided with any thing of the kind, 
 either spontaneously, or by desire of his keeper, 
 seized the bucket, and easily wrested it from 
 his less powerful opponent. The latter was 
 too sensible of his inferiority openly to resist 
 the insult, though it was obvious that he 
 felt it ; but great squabbling and abuse ensued 
 between the keepers. 
 
 " At length, the weaker animal, watching the 
 opportunity when the other was standing with 
 his side to the well, retired backwards a few 
 paces, in a very quiet and unsuspicious manner, 
 and then rushing forward with all his might, 
 drove his head against the side of the other, 
 and fairly pushed him into the well. It may 
 easily be imagined that great inconvenience 
 was immediately experienced, and serious ap- 
 prehensions quickly followed, that the water
 
 CUNNING OF THE ELEPHANT. 55 
 
 in the well, on which the existence of so many 
 seemed in a great measure to depend, would 
 be spoiled by the unwieldy brute which was 
 precipitated into it ; and as the surface of the 
 water was nearly twenty feet below the level 
 of the ground, there did not appear to be any 
 means that could be adopted to get the animal 
 out by main force, without the risk of injur- 
 ing him. There were many feet of water below 
 the Elephant, who floated at ease on its surface, 
 and experiencing considerable pleasure from his 
 cool retreat, he evinced but little inclination to 
 lend any assistance towards his rescue. 
 
 " A vast number of fascines (bundles of wood) 
 had been employed by the army in conducting 
 the siege; and at length it occurred to the 
 Elephant-keeper, that a sufficient number of 
 these might be lowered into the well, on 
 which the animal might be raised to the top, 
 if it could be made to lay them in regular suc- 
 cession under his feet. Permission having 
 accordingly been obtained from the engineers
 
 56 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 to use the fascines, the keeper by means of 
 that extraordinary ascendancy which these men 
 attain over their charge, joined with the intel- 
 lectual resources of the animal itself, soon 
 taught it how to proceed ; and the Elephant 
 began quickly to place each fascine, as it was 
 lowered, under him, in succession until, in a 
 short time, he was able to stand upon them. 
 By this time, however, the cunning brute en- 
 joying the coolness of his situation, after the 
 heat and partial privation of water to which 
 he had been lately exposed, was unwilling to 
 work any longer ; and all the threats of his 
 keeper could not induce him to place another 
 fascine. The man then opposed cunning to 
 cunning, and began to caress and praise the 
 Elephant; and what he could not effect by 
 threats he was enabled to do by the repeated 
 promise of plenty of arrack, a spirituous beverage 
 composed of rum, of which the Elephant is very 
 fond. Incited by this, the animal again set to 
 work, raised himself considerably higher, until,
 
 DOCILITY OF THE ELEPHANT. 57 
 
 by a partial removal of the masonry round the 
 top of the well, he was enabled to step out, 
 after having been in the water about fourteen 
 hours." 
 
 '' The keepers seem to attain great ascen- 
 dancy over the animals, Uncle Thomas." 
 
 " The attachment of the Elephant to its 
 keeper, and the command which some of those 
 men acquire over the affections of the animal 
 is very extraordinary. The mere sound of the 
 keeper's voice has been known to reclaim an 
 animal which had escaped from domestication 
 and resumed its original freedom : — 
 
 " A female Elephant, belonging to a gentle- 
 man in Calcutta, who was ordered from the 
 upper country to Chittagong, in the route 
 thither, broke loose from her keeper, and, 
 making her way to the woods, was lost. The 
 unhappy keeper tried every means to vindicate 
 himself, but his master, angry at the loss of 
 so valuable an animal, refused to listen to 
 any of his excuses, branded him with dishonesty,
 
 58 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 and charged him with having sold the Elephant. 
 The unfortunate keeper was tried for the theft, 
 and l^eing convicted, was condemned to work 
 on the roads for life, and his wife and children 
 sold for slaves. 
 
 " About twelve years after this event, this 
 man, who was known to be well acquainted 
 with taming Elephants, was sent into the 
 country with a party to assist in catching wild 
 ones. They at last came upon a herd, amongst 
 which the man fancied he saw the Elephant, 
 for the loss of which he had been condemned. 
 He resolved to approach it, nor could the 
 strongest remonstrances of the party dissuade 
 him from the attempt. As he advanced to- 
 wards the animal, he called her by name when 
 she immediately recognised his voice ; she 
 waved her trunk in the air as a token of salu- 
 tation, and kneeling down, allowed him to 
 mount her neck. She afterwards assisted in 
 taking other Elephants, and decoyed into the 
 trap three young ones, to which she had given
 
 DOCILITY OF THE ELEPHANT. 59 
 
 birth since her escape. The keeper returned 
 to his master with the Elephant, and the 
 singular circumstances attending her recovery 
 being told, he regained his character ; and, as 
 a recompense for his unmerited sufferings, had 
 a pension settled on him for life." 
 
 " That was an instance of rare good fortune, 
 Uncle Thomas. How very curious that he 
 should fall in with the herd in which his own 
 Elephant was ! " 
 
 " It was very fortunate indeed, Frank. It 
 was not a little curious too that the Elephant 
 should recognise him after so long a period. 
 But the attachment which they show to their 
 keepers is sometimes very great. One which in 
 a moment of rage killed its keeper, a few years 
 ago, adopted his son as its carnac or driver, and 
 would allow no one else to assume his place. 
 The wife of the unfortunate man who witnessed 
 the dreadful scene, in her frenzy took her two 
 children, and threw them at the feet of the 
 Elephant, saying, ' As you have slain my hus-
 
 60 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 band, take my life also, as well as that of my 
 children ! ' The animal, which seemed to un- 
 derstand her distress, immediately became calm, 
 and as if stung with remorse, took up the eldest 
 boy with its trunk, and placed him on its neck, 
 adopted him for its camac, and never afterwards, 
 allowed another to occupy that seat." 
 
 " That was at least making all the reparation 
 in its power. Uncle Thomas." 
 
 " There is one or two other stories about the^ 
 Elephant, Boys, showing that he knows how to 
 revenge an insult, which I must tell you before 
 you go : — 
 
 " A merchant at Bencoolen kept a tame Ele- 
 phant, which was so exceedingly gentle in his 
 habits, that he was permitted to go at large. 
 This huge animal used to walk about the 
 streets in the most quiet and orderly manner, 
 and paid many visits through the city to people 
 who were kind to him. Two cobblers having 
 taken an ill will to this inoffensive creature, 
 several times pricked him on the proboscis with
 
 ^,ffl,p. -.^Ilb 
 
 " lie filled his trunk with water, and advancing in his 
 ordinary manner, spouted the whole puddle over them." 
 
 Paj,'e Bi
 
 SAGACITY OF THE ELEPHANT. 61 
 
 their awls, when he saluted them in passing. 
 The noble animal did not punish them in the 
 manner he might have done, and seemed to 
 think they were too contemptible for his anger. 
 He took other means to reward them for their 
 cruelty. He walked deliberately away, and 
 having filled his trunk with a quantity of dirty 
 water, advanced towards them in his ordinary 
 manner, and spouted the whole of the puddle 
 over them. The punishment was highly ap- 
 plauded by those who witnessed it, and the poor 
 cobblers were laughed at for their pains." 
 
 " Ha! ha! ha! He must have been a very 
 knowing animal, Uncle Thomas. I dare say 
 the cobblers behaved better in future." 
 
 " I dare say they would, Boys. Here is 
 another story of the same description, but the 
 trickster did not escape so easily: — 
 
 " A person, in the island of Ceylon, who lived 
 near a place where Elephants were daily led to 
 water, and often sat at the door of his house, 
 used occasionally to give one of these animals
 
 62 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 some fig leaves, of which Elephants are very 
 fond. One day he took it into his head to play 
 the Elephant a trick. He wrapped a stone 
 round with fig leaves, and said to the driver, 
 ' This time I will give him a stone to eat, and 
 see how it will agree with him.' The driver 
 told him that the Elephant would not be such 
 a fool as to swallow a stone. The man, how- 
 ever, handed it the packet, but no sooner had it 
 touched it w^ith its trunk, than it immediately 
 let it fall to the ground. ' You see,' said the 
 keeper, 'that I was right; ' and without farther 
 remark he drove away his Elephants. After 
 they were watered, he was conducting them 
 again to their stable. The man who had played 
 the Elephant the trick was still sitting at his 
 door, when, before he was aware, the animal 
 ran at him, threw his trunk around his body, 
 and dashing him to the ground trampled him 
 to death." 
 
 "Shocking! Uncle Thomas. I shall be afraid 
 to go near an Elephant next time I see one!"
 
 DOCILITY OF THE ELEPHANT. 63 
 
 " It ought at least to teach you not to try its 
 temper too much, John. It is always a dan- 
 gerous experiment, especially with such a large 
 and powerful animal. But we must stop for 
 the evening." 
 
 " Good night, Uncle Thomas! "
 
 64 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 UVCLE THOMAS IVTRODUCES TO THE XOTICE OF HIS LITTLE AUDIEVCE THE 
 KTTRICK shepherd's STORIES ABOUT SHEEP; AND TELLS THEM SOME 
 INTERESTING STORIES ABOUT THB GOAT, AND ITS PECULIARITIES. 
 
 " I DARE say, Boys, you have not forgotten the 
 Ettrick Shepherd's wonderful stories about his 
 Dogs. Some of those which he relates about 
 Sheep are equally remarkable, and as he tells 
 them in the same pleasing style, I think I 
 cannot do better than read to you the chapter 
 in ' The Shepherd's Calendar ' which he de- 
 votes to this animal." 
 
 " Thank you, Uncle Thomas. We remember 
 very well his stories about Sirrah and Hector 
 and Chieftain, and the old Shepherd's grief 
 at parting with his dog." 
 
 " That's right; Boys, I am happy to think
 
 CHARACTER OF THE SHEEP. 65 
 
 that you do not forget what I tell you. But 
 listen to the Ettrick Shepherd : — 
 
 " The Sheep has scarcely any marked cha- 
 racter save that of natural affection, of which 
 it possesses a very great share. It is otherwise 
 a stupid indifferent animal, having few wants, 
 and fewer expedients. The old black-faced, or 
 forest breed, have far more powerful capabilities 
 than any of the finer breeds that have been 
 introduced into Scotland, and, therefore, the 
 few anecdotes that I have to relate shall be 
 confined to them. 
 
 "So strong is the attachment of Sheep to 
 the place where they have been bred, that I 
 have heard of their returning from Yorkshire 
 to the Highlands. I was always somewhat 
 inclined to suspect that they might have been 
 lost by the way, but it is certain however, that 
 when once one or a few Sheep get away from 
 the rest of their acquaintances, they return 
 homeward with great eagerness and perseve- 
 rance. I have lived beside a drove-road the
 
 66 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 better part of my life, and many stragglers 
 have I seen bending their steps northward 
 in the spring of the year. A shepherd rarely 
 sees these journeyers twice ; if he sees them, 
 and stops them in the morning, they are gone 
 long before night ; and if he sees them at 
 night, they will be gone many miles before 
 morning. This strong attachment to the place 
 of their nativity is much more predominant in 
 our old aboriginal breed than in any of the 
 other kinds with w^hich I am acquainted. 
 
 " The most singular instance that I know 
 of, to be quite well authenticated, is that of 
 a black Ewe, that returned with her lamb 
 from a farm in the head of Glen-Lyon, to the 
 farm of Harehope, in Tweeddale, and accom- 
 plished the journey in nine days. She was 
 soon missed by her owner, and a shepherd was 
 despatched in pursuit of her, who followed her 
 all the way to Crieff, where he gave her up 
 and returned home. He got intelligence of 
 her all the way, and every one told him that
 
 AFFECTION OF THE SHEEP. 67 
 
 she absolutely persisted in travelling on, — she 
 would not be stopped, regarding neither sheep 
 nor shepherd by the way. Her lamb was 
 often far behind, and she had constantly to 
 urge it on by impatient bleating. She un- 
 luckily came to Stirling on the morning of 
 a great annual fair, about the end of May, 
 and judging it imprudent to venture through 
 the crowd with her lamb, she halted on the 
 north side of the town the whole day, where 
 she was seen by hundreds, lying close by the 
 road-side. But next morning, when all was 
 quiet, a little after the break of day, she was 
 observed stealing quietly through the town, in 
 apparent terror of the dogs that were prowling 
 about the street. The last time she was seen 
 on the road was at a toll-bar near St. Ninian's ; 
 the man stopped her, thinking she was a strayed 
 animal, and that some one would claim her. 
 She tried several times to break through by 
 force when he opened the gate, but he always 
 prevented her, and at length she turned patiently 
 f2
 
 68 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 back. She had found some means of eluding 
 him, however, for home she came on a Sab- 
 bath morning, early in June ; and she left the 
 farm of Lochs, in Glen-Lyon, either on the 
 Thursday afternoon, or Friday morning, a week 
 and two days before. The farmer of Harehope 
 paid the Highland farmer the price of her, and 
 she remained on her native farm till she died of 
 old age, in her seventeenth year. 
 
 " With regard to the natural affection of this 
 animal, the instances that might be mentioned 
 are without number. When one loses its 
 sight in a flock of Sheep, it is rarely abandoned 
 to itself in that hapless and helpless state. 
 Some one always attaches itself to it, and by 
 bleating calls it back from the precipice, the 
 lake, the pool, and all dangers whatever. 
 There is a disease among Sheep, called by 
 shepherds the Breakshugh, a deadly sort of 
 dysentery, which is as infectious as fire in a 
 flock. Whenever a Sheep feels itself seized 
 by this, it instantly withdraws from all the rest,
 
 AFFECTION OF THE SHEEP. 69 
 
 shunning their society with the greatest care; 
 it even hides itself, and is often very hard to be 
 found. Though this propensity can hardly be 
 attributed to natural instinct, it is, at all events, 
 a provision of nature of the greatest kindness 
 and beneficence. 
 
 " Another manifest provision of nature with 
 regard to these animals is, that the more in- 
 hospitable the land is on which they feed, the 
 greater their kindness and attention to their 
 young. I once herded two years on a wild 
 and bare farm called Willenslee, on the border 
 of Mid-Lothian, and of all the Sheep I ever 
 saw, these were the kindest and most affec- 
 tionate to their lambs. I was often deeply 
 affected at scenes which I witnessed. We had 
 one very severe winter, so that our Sheep grew 
 lean in the spring, and the thwarter-ill, a sort 
 of paral)^tic affection, came among them, and 
 carried off a number. Often have I seen these 
 poor victims, when fallen down to rise no 
 more, even when unable to lift their heads from
 
 70 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 the ground, holding up the leg, to invite the 
 starving lamb to the miserable pittance that the 
 udder could still supply. I had never seen 
 aught more painfully affecting. 
 
 "It is well known that it is a custom with 
 shepherds when a lamb dies, if the mother 
 have a sufficiency of milk, to bring her from the 
 hill, and put another lamb to her. This is 
 done by putting the skin of the dead lamb upon 
 the living one ; the Ewe immediately acknow- 
 ledges the relationship, and after the skin has 
 warmed on it, so as to give it something of the 
 smell of her own progeny, and it has sucked 
 her two or three times, she accepts and nou- 
 rishes it as her own ever after. Whether it 
 is from joy at this apparent reanimation of her 
 young one, or because a little doubt remains 
 on her mind which she would fain dispel, I 
 cannot decide, but for a number of days, she 
 shows far more fondness, by bleatmg and 
 caressing over this one, than she did formerly 
 over the one that was really her own. But this
 
 AFFECTION OF THE SHEEP. 71 
 
 is not what I wanted to explain ; it was, that 
 such Sheep as thus lose their lambs must be 
 driven to a house with dogs, so that the lamb 
 may be put to them; for they will not suffer 
 it to approach, but in a dark confined place. 
 But at Willenslee, I never needed to drive 
 home a sheep by force, with dogs, or in any 
 other way than the following: I found every 
 Ewe, of course, standing hanging her head over 
 her dead lamb; and having a piece of twine 
 with me for the purpose, I tied that to the 
 lamb's neck or foot, and trailing it along, the 
 Ewe followed me into any house or fold that I 
 chose to lead her. Any of them would have 
 followed me in that way for miles, with her 
 nose close on the lamb, which she never 
 quitted for a moment, except to chase my dog, 
 which she would not suffer to walk near me. 
 I often, out of curiosity, led them in to the 
 side of the kitchen-fire by this means, into 
 the midst of servants and dogs ; but the more 
 that dangers multiplied around the Ewe, she
 
 72 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT, 
 
 clung the closer to her dead offspring, and 
 thought of nothing whatever but protecting it. 
 One of the two years, while I remained on 
 this farm, a severe blast of snow came on by 
 night, about the latter end of Apiil, which de- 
 stroyed several scores of our lambs; and as 
 we had not enough of twins and odd lambs 
 for the mothers that had lost theirs, of course 
 we selected the best Ewes, and put lambs to 
 them. As we were making the distribution, 
 I requested of my master to spare me a lamb 
 for a hawked Ewe which he knew, and which 
 was standing over a dead lamb in the head of 
 the Hope, about four miles from the house. 
 He would not do it, but bid me let her re- 
 main for a day or two, and perhaps a twin 
 would be forthcoming. I did so, and faithfully 
 she did stand to her charge; so faithfully, 
 that I think the like never was equalled by 
 any of the woolly race. I visited her every 
 morning and evening, and for the first eight 
 days never found her above two or three yards
 
 AFFECTION OF THE SHEEP. 7o 
 
 from the lamb ; and always, as I went my 
 rounds, she eyed me long ere I came near 
 her, and kept tramping with her feet, and 
 whistling through her nose, to frighten away 
 the dog ; he got a regular chase twice a day 
 as I passed by: but, however excited and 
 fierce a Ewe may be, she never offers any 
 resistance to mankind, being perfectly and 
 meekly passive to them. The weather grew 
 fine and warm, and the dead lamb soon de- 
 cayed, which the body of a dead lamb does 
 particularly soon : but still this affectionate and 
 desolate creature kept hanging over the poor 
 remains with an attachment that seemed to be 
 nourished by hopelessness. It often drew the 
 tears from my eyes to see her hanging with 
 such fondness over a few bones, mixed with a 
 small portion of wool. For the first fortnight 
 she never quitted the spot, and for another 
 week she visited it every morning and evening, 
 uttering a few kindly and heart-piercing bleats 
 each time ; till at length every remnant of her
 
 74 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 offspring vanished, mixing with the soil, or 
 wafted away by the winds." 
 
 " Poor creature ! Uncle Thomas, that was 
 very affecting." 
 
 " So much for the Ettrick Shepherd's stories. 
 I will now tell you of a remarkable instance 
 of sagacity in a Roebuck, which is men- 
 tioned in Monk Lewis's correspondence — 
 Here it is : — One of the farm-keeper's wives 
 going homewards through the w^ood, saw a 
 Roebuck running towards her with great speed. 
 Thinking it was going to attack her with its 
 homs, she was considerably alaraied; but, at 
 the distance of a few paces, the animal stopped 
 and disappeared among the bushes. The 
 woman recovered herself, and was proceeding 
 on her way, when the Roebuck appeared again, 
 ran towards her as before, and again retreated 
 without doing her any harm. On this being 
 done a third time, the woman was induced to 
 follow it till it led her to the side of a deep 
 ditch, in which she discovered a young Roebuck
 
 SAGACITY OF THE SHEEP. 75 
 
 unable to extricate itself, and on the point of 
 being drowned. The woman immediately tried 
 to rescue it, during which the other Eoebuck 
 stood by quietly, and, as soon as her exertions 
 were successful, the two animals galloped off 
 together. 
 
 "Though it differs in many respects from 
 the Sheep, the Goat bears so strong a resem- 
 blance to that animal, that now that I am 
 speaking of it, I may as well tell you a story 
 or two about the Goat. It will save my re- 
 turning to it afterwards." 
 
 " Very well, Uncle Thomas." 
 
 " The Goat is in every respect more fitted 
 for a life of savage liberty than the Sheep. 
 It is of a more lively disposition, and is pos- 
 sessed of a greater degree of intelligence. It 
 readily attaches itself to man, and seems sen- 
 sible of his caresses. It delights in climbing 
 rocky precipices, and going to the very edge of 
 danger. Nature has admirably fitted it for 
 traversing such places with ease ; its hoof is
 
 76 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 hollow underneath, with sharp edges, so that 
 it walks as securely on the ridge of a house as 
 an the level ground. 
 
 "The celebrated traveller Dr. Clarke gives a 
 very curious account of a Goat, which was train- 
 ed to exhibit various amusing feats of dexterity. 
 
 " 'We met,' says he, ' an Arab with a Goat 
 which he led about the country to exhibit, 
 in order to gain a livelihood for itself and its 
 owner. He had taught this animal, while he 
 accompanied its movements with a song, to 
 mount upon little cylindrical blocks of wood, 
 placed successively one above another, and in 
 shape resembling the dice-box belonging to a 
 backgammon table. In this manner the Goat 
 stood, first on the top of one cylinder, then 
 on the top of two ; afterwards, of three, four, 
 five, and six, until it remained balanced upon 
 the summit of them all, elevated several feet 
 above the ground, and, with its four feet col- 
 lected upon a single point, without throwing 
 down the disjointed fabric on which it stood.
 
 " The animal remained balanced on the summit, without 
 throwing do\vn the disjointed fabric " 
 
 Page 76.
 
 I
 
 HABITS OF THE GOAT. 77 
 
 The diameter of the upper cylinder, on which 
 its four feet alternately remained until the Arab 
 had ended his ditty, was only two inches, and 
 the length of each six inches. The most 
 curious part of the performance occurred after- 
 wards ; for the Arab, to convince us of the 
 animal's attention to the turn of the air, 
 occasionally interrupted it ; and, as often as he 
 did this, the Goat tottered, appeared uneasy, 
 and upon his becoming suddenly silent, in the 
 middle of his song, it fell to the ground.' " 
 
 " Like the Sheep, the Goat possesses great 
 natural affection for its young. In its de- 
 fence it boldly repels the attacks of the 
 most formidable opponents. I remember a 
 little story which finely illustrates this instinc- 
 tive courage : — 
 
 "A gentleman, having missed one of his Goats 
 when his flock was taken home at night, being 
 afraid the wanderer would get among and 
 destroy the young trees in the nursery, two 
 boys, wrapt in their plaids, were appointed to
 
 78 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 keep watch all night. When the morning 
 dawned, they set out in search of her. They 
 at length discovered her on a pointed rock at a 
 considerable distance, and hastening to the 
 spot perceived her standing over her kid with 
 the greatest anxiety, defending it from a Fox. 
 Reynard turned round and round to lay hold 
 of his prey, but the Goat presented her horns 
 in every direction. The youngest boy was 
 despatched for assistance to attack the Fox, 
 and the eldest by hallooing and throw- 
 ing stones, sought to intimidate it as he 
 advanced to the rescue. The Fox seemed 
 well aware that the child could not execute his 
 threats ; he looked at him one instant, and then 
 renewed the assault, till, quite impatient, he 
 made a sudden spring at the kid. The whole 
 three animals then suddenly disappeared, and 
 were found at the bottom of the precipice. 
 The Goat's horns were darted into the back of 
 the Fox ; and the kid lay stretched beside them. 
 It is supposed that the Fox had fixed his teeth
 
 COURAGE OF THE GOAT. 79 
 
 in the kid, for its neck was lacerated ; but the 
 blow by which the faithful mother had in- 
 flicted the death wound upon her mortal enemy- 
 had been struck with so much determination, 
 that she had lost her balance, and the whole 
 three were thus precipitated over the rock. 
 
 " There is another story of the Goat, which 
 places its gratitude and affection in such an inte- 
 resting light, that I am sure it will delight you: — 
 
 " After the final suppression of the Scottish 
 Eebellion of 1715 by the decisive Battle of 
 Preston, a gentleman who had taken a very 
 active share in it escaped to the West High- 
 lands, to the residence of a female relative who 
 afforded him an asylum. As in consequence 
 of the strict search which was made after the 
 ringleaders, it was soon judged unsafe for him 
 to remain in the house of his friend, he was 
 conducted to a cavern in a sequestered situation, 
 and furnished with a supply of food. The ap- 
 proach to this lonely abode consisted of a small 
 aperture, through which he crept, dragging his
 
 80 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 provisions along with him. A little way from 
 the mouth of the cave the roof became elevated, 
 but, on advancing, an obstacle obstmcted his 
 progress. He soon perceived that, whatever it 
 might be, the object was a living one, but, 
 suspicious of danger though he was, he felt 
 unwilling to strike at a venture with his dirk, 
 but stooped down, and discovered a goat and 
 her kid lying on the ground. The animal was 
 evidently in great pain, and on passing his 
 hand over her body, he discovered that one of 
 her legs was fractured. He accordingly bound 
 it up with his garter, and offered her some of 
 his bread ; but she refused to eat, and stretched 
 out her tongue, as if intimating that her mouth 
 was parched with thirst. He gave her water, 
 which she drank greedily, and then she ate 
 the bread. At midnight he ventured from the 
 cave, pulled a quantity of grass and the tender 
 branches of trees, and carried them to the 
 poor sufferer, which received them with demon- 
 strations of gratitude.
 
 GRATITUDE OF THE GOAT. 81 
 
 " The only thing which the fugitive had to 
 occupy his attention in his dreary abode was 
 administering comfort to the Goat ; and secluded 
 and solitary as he was, he was thankful to 
 have any living creature beside him. Under 
 his care the animal quickly recovered, and be- 
 came tenderly attached to him. It happened 
 that the servant who was intrusted with the 
 secret of his retreat fell sick, when it became 
 necessary to send another with the daily provi- 
 sion. The goat, on this occasion happening 
 to be lying near the mouth of the cavern, 
 violently opposed the entrance of the stranger, 
 butting him furiously with her head. Ihe 
 fugitive, hearing the noise, advanced, and re- 
 ceiving the watchword from his new attendant, 
 interposed, and the faithful Goat permitted him 
 to pass. So resolute was the animal on this 
 occasion, that the gentleman was convinced she 
 would have died in his defence." 
 
 " That was noble. Uncle Thomas !"
 
 82 
 
 CHAPTER y. 
 
 UVCLE THOMAS RELATES SOME VERY REMARKABLE STORIES ABOUT THK 
 CAT; POINTS OUT TO THE BOYS THK CONNECTION' SUBSISTING BETWEEN 
 THE DOMESTIC CAT AND THE LION AND TIOER," AND TELLS THKM SOME 
 STORIES ABOUT THE GENTLENESS, AS WELL AS THE FEROCITY OP THOSE 
 ANIMALS. 
 
 " Though far from being so general a favourite 
 as the Dog, the domestic Cat has many qualities 
 to recommend it to our regard, and some of the 
 stories which I am going to tell you exhibit 
 instances of gentleness and affection which 
 cannot be surpassed. 
 
 '•' I dare say, Frank, you recollect the cir- 
 cumstance of the Duke of Norfolk's cat 
 seeking to share his imprisonment by getting 
 down the chimney of his room when he was 
 confined in the tower, during the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth. Here, however, is an in-
 
 FELINE AFFECTION. 83 
 
 stance of still stronger attachment to its master, 
 which will match indeed with the best of those 
 of the Dog : — 
 
 " A Cat which had been brought up in a 
 family became extremely attached to the eldest 
 child, a little boy, who was very fond of play- 
 ing with her. She bore with the most exem- 
 plary patience any little maltreatment which 
 she received from him — which even good- 
 natured children seldom fail, occasionally, to 
 give to animals in their sports with them — 
 without ever making any attempt at resistance. 
 Whenever she caught a mouse, she brought 
 it alive to her friend, if he showed any de- 
 sire to take her prey from her, she would suffer 
 it to escape, and waited to see whether he was 
 able to catch it. If he did not, the Cat darted 
 at, seized it, and laid it again before him ; 
 and in this manner the sport continued as long 
 as the child showed any inclination for the 
 amusement. 
 
 " It happened that the boy was attacked by 
 g2
 
 84 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 small-pox, and, during the early stages of the 
 disease the Cat never quitted his bed-side ; but, 
 as the danger increased, it was found necessary 
 to remove the Cat and lock her up. At length 
 the child died. On the following day the Cat 
 having escaped from her confinement, imme- 
 diately ran to the apartment where she hoped 
 to find her play-mate. Disappointed in her 
 expectation, she sought for him with symptoms 
 of great uneasiness and loud lamentations, all 
 over the house, till she came to the door of the 
 room in which the corpse lay. Here she lay 
 down in silent melancholy, till she was again 
 locked up. As soon as the child was interred, the 
 Cat was set at liberty ; she soon disappeared, 
 and it w^as not till nearly a fortnight had 
 elapsed, that she returned to the well-known 
 apartment, quite emaciated. She refused, how- 
 ever to take any food, and soon again escaped 
 with dismal cries. At length, compelled by 
 hunger, she made her appearance daily at 
 dinner-time, but always left the house as soon
 
 "So indelible was her attachment, that for jears she 
 never passed the n'ght lu.y where else than close to his 
 grave."
 
 FELINE AFFECTION. 85 
 
 as she had eaten the portion of food assigned to 
 her. No one knew where she spent the rest of 
 the time, till she was one day discovered under 
 the wall of the burying-ground, close to the 
 grave of her favourite; and so indelible was 
 her attachment to her deceased friend, that till 
 his parents removed to another place, five years 
 afterwards, she never, except in the greatest 
 severity of winter, passed the night any where 
 else than close to the grave. It was somewhat 
 Ourious, that although she suffered herself to 
 be played with by the other children, she never 
 exhibited a particular partiality for any of 
 them." 
 
 " Poor Puss ! It certainly was a most affec- 
 tionate creature. Uncle Thomas !" 
 
 " There is another story of the Cat's attach- 
 ment. Boys, which I lately saw recorded in a 
 provincial newspaper. It serves to illustrate 
 the unexplained — I had almost said unexplain- 
 able — instinct which carries animals from one 
 place to another, although they may never
 
 86 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 have been that way before. A short time ago, 
 a family removed from the metropolis of Scot- 
 land to another town, at the distance of up- 
 wards of thirty miles, to reach which it is 
 necessary to cross an arm of the sea, several 
 miles in breadth, or to make a circuit of about 
 twenty miles. They had a favourite Cat, which, 
 previous to their removal, alarmed perhaps by 
 the unwonted bustle, hid itself, and no strata- 
 gem could induce it to leave its place of conceal- 
 ment. They of course gave her up for lost. It 
 happened, however, that one morning after 
 they had been settled for several weeks in 
 their new abode their attention was attracted by 
 a violent scratching at the door : on opening it, 
 greatly to their astonishment in walked their 
 favourite Cat, of which, from the time of their 
 removal they had heard nothing. How" she had 
 found out the w^ay, whether she had crossed 
 the sea or avoided it by making the long circuit 
 of which I told you, it was of course im- 
 possible to tell, but it certainly is one of
 
 FELINE AFFECTION. 8? 
 
 the most remarkable instances of the kind on 
 record." 
 
 " It is a most mysterious affair, Uncle 
 Thomas!" 
 
 " It is so, Harry, but the instance is not a 
 solitary one. The same thing happened with 
 the favourite Cat of a nobleman, which, on being 
 removed to his country seat more than a hun- 
 dred miles from London, found her way back 
 to his house in town. 
 
 "I recollect, Boys, how highly pleased you 
 were with the story which I told you about 
 the Dog discovering the murderers of his 
 master. There is one of a very similar de- 
 scription of a French Cat which I am sure 
 will also interest you : — 
 
 " In the beginning of the present century a 
 woman was murdered in Paris. The magis- 
 trate who went to investigate the affair was 
 accompanied by a physician; they found the 
 body lying upon the floor. Upon a chest in 
 a comer of the room sat a Cat, motionless, with
 
 88 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 its eyes stedfastly fixed upon the body of its 
 murdered mistress. Many persons, drawn by 
 curiosity, now entered the apartment, but 
 neither the appearance of such a crowd of 
 strangers, nor the confusion that prevailed in 
 the place, could make the Cat change her 
 position. In the mean time, several persons 
 were apprehended on suspicion of being con- 
 cerned in the murder, and it was resolved to 
 lead them into the apartment. Before the Cat 
 saw them, when she only heard their footsteps 
 approaching, her eyes flashed with increased 
 fiu*y, her hair stood erect, and as soon as 
 they entered the apartment, she sprang towards 
 them with expressions of the most violent rage, 
 l)ut did not venture to attack them, being 
 probably alarmed by the crowd that followed. 
 After turning several times towards them with 
 a peculiar ferocity of aspect, she crept into a 
 corner, with an air indicative of the deepest 
 melancholy. This extraordinary behaviour of 
 the Cat astonished every one present, nor was
 
 FIDELITY OF THE CAT. 89 
 
 this feeling confined to the spectators alone. 
 The effect which it produced upon the mur- 
 derers was such as almost to amount to an 
 acknowledgment of their guilt. Nor did the 
 matter remain long doubtful, for a train of 
 accessory circumstances was soon discovered 
 which proved it to complete conviction. 
 
 " This, however, is not the only instance of 
 fidelity in a Cat. A man who was sentenced 
 to transportation for house-breaking confessed, 
 after his conviction, that he committed the 
 robbery along with two companions, and, that 
 while they were in the act of plundering the 
 house, a large black Cat flew at one of them, 
 and fixed her claws on each side of his face, 
 to his no small astonishment and dismay. 
 
 " I have often, Boys, warned you against 
 stories of ghosts and hobgoblins, and shown 
 you on how frail a foundation they generally 
 rest. Here is a story in which a Cat was 
 one of the principal actors, which contains the 
 elements of as marvellous a tale of this de-
 
 90 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 scriptioii as could be desired. It happened in 
 the west of Scotland : — 
 
 " Some years ago, a poor man, whose habits 
 of life had always been of the most retired 
 description, giving way to the natural despon- 
 dency of his disposition, put an end to his 
 existence. The only other inmate of his cot- 
 tage was a favourite Cat. When the deed was 
 discovered, the Cat was found assiduously 
 watching over her master's body, and it was 
 with some difficulty she could be driven 
 away. 
 
 " The appalling deed naturally excited a 
 great deal of attention in the surrounding 
 neighbourhood, and on the day after the body 
 was deposited in the grave, which was made 
 at the outside of the church-yard, a number 
 of school-boys ventured thither, to view the 
 resting place of one who had at all times been 
 the subject of callage wonder, and whose recent 
 act of self-destruction had invested with addi- 
 tional interest. At first no one was brave
 
 FIDELITY OF THE CAT. 91 
 
 enough to venture near; until the appearance 
 of a hole in the side of the grave irresistibly 
 attracted their attention. It was at length de- 
 termined that it must have been the work of 
 some bodysnatcher, and the story having spread, 
 the grave was minutely examined ; but the 
 coffin was found undisturbed ; the turf was 
 replaced, and the grave again carefully cover- 
 ed up. 
 
 " On the following morning it was disco- 
 vered that the turf was again removed, and a 
 hole, deeper than before, yawned in the side of 
 the sad receptacle. The villagers crowded to 
 the spot, speculation was soon busy at work, 
 and all sorts of explanations were suggested. 
 In the midst of their contentions, alarmed per- 
 haps by the noise of the disputants, puss darted 
 from the hole, much to the confusion of some 
 of the most noisy and dogmatic expounders 
 of the mystery. Again the turf was replaced, 
 and again and again was it removed by the 
 unceasing efforts of the faithful cat to share the
 
 92 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 resting place of her deceased master. It was at 
 last found necessary to shoot her, it being 
 found impossible to prevent her returning to 
 the spot and disturbing the grave." 
 
 " Poor puss ! I wonder no one tried to 
 gain its affections, and thus charm it from its 
 dreary abode. Uncle Thomas. Did you ever 
 hear Dr. Good's account of a very extraordinary 
 instance of sagacity in his cat '? I was very 
 much struck with it when I saw it a day or two 
 ago in his ' Book of Nature.' If you please, 
 I will read it to you." 
 
 " Very well, Harry, I shall be glad to hear 
 it; I dare say it is an old acquaintance of 
 mine, however; I have been such a diligent 
 searcher after stories of this description, that I 
 think very few have escaped me." 
 
 " Here it is. Uncle Thomas: — 'A favourite Cat, 
 that was accustomed from day to day to take 
 her station quietly at my elbow, on the writing 
 table, sometimes for hour after hour, whilst I 
 was engaged in study, became at length less
 
 FIDELITY OF THE CAT. 93 
 
 constant in her attendance, as she had a kitten 
 to take care of. One morning she placed her- 
 self in the same spot, but seemed unquiet, 
 and, instead of seating herself as usual, con- 
 tinued to rub her furry sides against my hand 
 and pen, as though resolved to draw my atten- 
 tion, and make me leave off. As soon as she 
 had accomplished this point, she leaped down 
 on the carpet, and made towards the door, 
 with a look of great uneasiness. I opened the 
 door for her, as she seemed to desire, but, in- 
 stead of going forward, she turned round, and 
 looked earnestly at me, as though she wished 
 me to follow her, or had something to commu- 
 nicate. I did not fully understand her meaning, 
 and, being much engaged at the time, shut 
 the door upon her, that she might go where 
 she liked. 
 
 " In less than an hour afterwards, however, 
 she had again found an entrance into the room, 
 and drawn close to me, but, instead of mount- 
 ing the table, and rubbing herself against my
 
 94 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 hand, as before, she was now under the table, 
 and continued to rub herself against my feet, 
 on moving which I struck them against some- 
 thing, and on looking down, beheld with equal 
 grief and astonishment, covered over with 
 cinder dust, the dead body of her little kitten 
 which I supposed had been alive and in good 
 health. I now entered into the entire train of 
 this afflicted Cat's feelings. She had suddenly 
 lost the nursling she doated on, and was re- 
 solved to make me acquainted with it, — assu- 
 redly that I might know her grief, and pro- 
 bably also that I might inquire into the cause, 
 and, finding me too dull to understand her 
 expressive motioning that I would follow her 
 to the cinder heap on which the dead kitten 
 had been thrown, she took the great labour of 
 bringing it to me herself, from the area on the 
 basement floor, and up a whole flight of stairs, 
 and laid it at my feet. I took up the kitten in 
 my hand, the cat still following me, made 
 inquiry into the cause of its death, which I
 
 MATERNAL AFFECTION. 95 
 
 found, upon summoning the servants, to have 
 been an accident, in which no one was much 
 to blame ; and the yearning mother having thus 
 obtained her object, and got her master to 
 enter into her cause, and divide her sorrows 
 with her, gradually took comfort, and resumed 
 her former station by my side.'" 
 
 •' Thank you, Harry, I do not think I ever 
 heard that story before. Here is one that will 
 match it however, displaying considerable in- 
 genuity in a Cat in the protection of her 
 young. 
 
 " A Cat belonging to an Innkeeper in Corn- 
 wall, having been removed to a barn at some 
 distance from home, soon afterwards produced 
 four kittens. Not wishing the stock increased, 
 the Innkeeper desired three of them to be 
 drowned, next morning, before opening their 
 eyes on the world. Puss was deeply affected 
 by this bereavement, and resolved on removing 
 her remaining offspring to a place of security. 
 When the person appointed to feed grimalkin
 
 96 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 went with her breakfast on the following day, 
 no traces of her or her kitten were to be found. 
 He called ; but all was silent as the tomb ; 
 every corner was searched in vain ; no Cat was 
 forthcoming. At length, after the lapse of 
 several days, puss made her appearance early 
 one morning in the court of her master's house, a 
 melancholy picture of starvation. Having satis- 
 fied her hunger, and loitered about the house 
 during the day, she took her departure, late 
 in the evening, carrying away some meat. For 
 some time she continued her visits in the same 
 manner, taking care never to leave home empty- 
 mouthed at night. Her proceedings having ex- 
 cited curiosity, she was watched by two men, in 
 one of her nocturnal visits, and traced to the top 
 of a wheat-stack, at some distance. On obtain- 
 ing a ladder, her surviving kitten was found, 
 'n a curiously constructed hole, sleek and plump, 
 3ut as wild as a young Tiger, and would 
 allow no one to touch it. A few days after- 
 wards, the mother finding, perhaps, that her
 
 FRIENDSHIP OF ANIMALS. 97 
 
 own daily journies were rather fatiguing, or 
 thinking it was time that the object of her 
 soHcitude should be introduced into the world, 
 and that the kitten had attained an age 
 when it could protect itself, took advantage 
 of a dark and silent night, to convey it safely 
 home, where both found a welcome recep- 
 tion. 
 
 " I have frequently told you stories about the 
 friendship of animals. Here is an instance of 
 this feeling between a Cat and Dog, which from 
 bad education are generally the most determined 
 enemies. It is related by a French writer on 
 the Language of Brutes : — 
 
 " I had a Cat and Dog, which became so 
 attached to each other that they w^ould never 
 willingly be asunder. Whenever the Dog got 
 any choice morsel of food he was sure to 
 divide it with his whiskered friend. They 
 always ate sociably out of one plate, slept in 
 the same bed, and daily walked out together. 
 Wishing to put this apparently sincere friend- 
 
 H
 
 98 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 ship to the proof, I one day took the Cat 
 by herself mto my room, while I had the Dog 
 guarded in another apartment. I entertained 
 the Cat in a most sumptuous manner, being 
 desirous to see what sort of a meal she would 
 make without her friend, who had hitherto 
 been her constant table companion. The Cat 
 enjoyed the treat with great glee, and seemed 
 to have entirely forgotten the Dog. I had had 
 a partridge for dinner, half of which I intended 
 to keep for supper. My wife covered it with a 
 plate, and put it into a cupboard, the door of 
 which she did not lock. The Cat left the 
 room, and I walked out upon business. My 
 wife, meanwhile, sat at work in an adjoining 
 apartment. When I returned home, she related 
 to me the following circumstances : — The Cat, 
 having hastily left the dining room, went to 
 the Dog, and mewed uncommonly loud, and 
 in different tones of voice ; which the Dog, 
 from time to time, answered with a short bark. 
 They then went both to the door of the room
 
 FRIENDSHIP OF ANIMALS. 99 
 
 where the Cat had dined, and waited till it 
 was opened. One of my children opened the 
 door, and immediately the two friends entered 
 the apartment. The mewing of the cat excited 
 my wife's attention. She rose from her seat, 
 and stepped softly up to the door, which stood 
 ajar, to observe what was going on. The Cat 
 led the Dog to the cupboard which contained 
 the partridge, pushed off the plate which 
 covered it, and taking out my intended supper, 
 laid it before her canine friend, w^ho devoured 
 it greedily. Probably the Cat, by her mewing, 
 had given the Dog to understand what an excel- 
 lent meal she had made, and how sorry she 
 was that he had not participated in it ; but, at 
 the same time, had explained to him that 
 something was left for him in the cupboard, 
 and persuaded him to follow her thither. Since 
 that time I have paid particular attention to 
 these animals, and am convinced that they 
 communicate to each other whatever seems 
 interesting." 
 
 h2
 
 100 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " Oh ! indeed, Uncle Thomas, do you think 
 that animals talk to each other ?" 
 
 " I have no doubt that to some extent they 
 have the power of communicating their ideas 
 to each other, Harry, but I cannot go the 
 whole length of Monsieur Wenzel, who records 
 the story which I have just told you. 
 
 " I will now, Boys, tell you some stories about 
 the other animals of the Cat kind, such as the 
 Lion, Tiger, &c. Though these animals differ 
 so much from the domestic Cat, they all belong 
 to the same family; the huge Lion, which 
 carries off with ease a buffalo from the herd, or 
 makes the forest tremble with his hoarse roar, 
 is only an enormous Cat. 
 
 " I dare say you have all heard the story of 
 ' Androcles and the Lion,' which is recorded in 
 that most delightful book, ' Sandford and 
 Merton.' It is so captivating a tale, that I 
 must relate it to you as much for my own 
 gratification as for yours. I will just observe, 
 however, that it is a fiction, and not a real
 
 GRATITUDE OF THE LION. 101 
 
 narrative, though I can tell you one or two 
 very similar ones, which occurred in real life. 
 Here it is, John, have the kindness to read 
 it to us." 
 
 " With great pleasure. Uncle Thomas: — 
 There was a certain slave, named Androcles, 
 who was so ill treated by his master, that his 
 life became insupportable. Finding no remedy 
 from what he suffered, he at length said to 
 himself: — ' It is better to die than to continue 
 to live in such hardships and misery as I 
 am obliged to suffer. I am determined there- 
 fore to run away from my master ; if I am 
 taken again, I know that I shall be punished 
 vdth a cruel death, but it is better to die at 
 once than to live in misery. If I escape, I 
 must betake myself to deserts and woods, in- 
 habited only by wild beasts, but they cannot 
 use me more cruelly than I have been by my 
 fellow creatures, therefore I will rather trust 
 myself to them than continue to be a miser- 
 able slave.
 
 102 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " Having formed this resolution, he took an 
 opportunity of leaving his master's house, and 
 hid himself in a thick forest, which was some 
 miles distant from the city. But here the 
 unhappy man found that he had only escaped 
 from one kind of misery to experience another. 
 He wandered about all day through a vast and 
 trackless wood, where his flesh was continually 
 torn by thorns and brambles. He grew hungry, 
 but he could find no food in this dreary soli- 
 tude. At length he was ready to die with 
 fatigue, and lay down in despair in a large cavern. 
 
 '' The unfortunate man had not been long 
 quiet in the cavern, before he heard a dreadful 
 noise, which seemed to be the roar of some wild 
 beast, and terrified him very much. He started 
 up with a design to escape, and had already 
 reached the mouth of the cave, when he saw 
 coming towards him a lion of prodigious size, 
 which prevented any possibility of retreat. He 
 now believed his destruction to be inevitable, 
 but to his great astonishment the beast advanced
 
 •* He then perceived that a thorn of uncommon size 
 had penetrated the ball of the foot." 
 
 Page 103
 
 GRATITUDE OF THE LION. 103 
 
 towards him with a gentle pace, without any 
 mark of enmity or rage, and uttered a kind of 
 mournful noise, as if he demanded the assis- 
 tance of the man. 
 
 *' Androcles, who was naturally of a resolute 
 disposition, acquired courage from this circum- 
 stance to examine his monstrous guest, who 
 gave him sulhcient leisure for this purpose. 
 He saw, as the Lion approached him, that he 
 seemed to limp upon one of his legs, and that 
 the foot was extremely swelled, as if it had 
 been w^ounded. Acquiring still more fortitude 
 from the gentle demeanour of the beast, he 
 advanced towards him, and took hold of the 
 wounded part as a surgeon would examine 
 his patient. He then perceived that a thorn 
 of uncommon size had penetrated the ball of 
 the foot, and was the occasion of the swelling 
 and the lameness which he had observed. 
 Androcles found that the beast, far from resent- 
 ing his familiarity, received it with the greatest 
 gentleness, and seemed to invite him by his
 
 104 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 blandishments to proceed. He therefore ex- 
 tracted the thorn, and, pressing the swelling, 
 discharged a considerable quantity of matter, 
 which had been the cause of so much pain. As 
 soon as the beast felt himself thus relieved, he 
 began to testify his joy and gratitude by every 
 expression in his power. He jumped about 
 like a wanton spaniel, w^agged his enormous tail, 
 and licked the feet and hands of his physician. 
 Nor was he contented with these demonstrations 
 of kindness. From this moment Androcles 
 became his guest ; nor did the Lion ever sally 
 forth in quest of his prey, without bringing 
 home the produce of his chase, and sharing it 
 with his friend. 
 
 " In this savage state of hospitality did the 
 man continue to live during several months. 
 At length wandering unguardedly through the 
 woods, he met with a company of soldiers sent 
 out to apprehend him, and was by them taken 
 prisoner, and conducted back to his master. 
 The laws of that country being very severe
 
 GRATITUDE OF THE LION. 105 
 
 against slaves, he was tried and found guilty of 
 having fled from his master, and, as a punish- 
 ment for his pretended crime, he v^as sentenced 
 to be torn in pieces by a furious Lion, kept 
 many days without food, to inspire him with 
 additional rage. 
 
 " When the destined moment arrived, the 
 unhappy man was exposed, unarmed, in the 
 middle of a spacious arena, inclosed on every 
 side, round which many thousand people were 
 assembled to view the mournful spectacle. Pre- 
 sently a dreadful yell was heard, which struck 
 the spectators with horror, and a monstrous Lion 
 rushed out of a den, which was purposely set 
 open, with erected mane and flaming eyes, and 
 jaws that gaped like an open sepulchre. A 
 mournful silence instantly prevailed. All eyes 
 were turned upon the destined victim, whose 
 destruction seemed inevitable. But the pity of 
 the multitude was soon converted into astonish- 
 ment when they beheld the Lion, instead of de- 
 stroying its defenceless enemy, crouch submis-
 
 106 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 sively at his feet, fawn upon him as a faithful 
 dog would do upon his master, and rejoice 
 over him as a mother that unexpectedly re- 
 covers her offspring. The governor of the 
 town, who was present, then caUed out with 
 a loud voice, and ordered Androcles to ex- 
 plain to them this unintelligible mystery, and 
 how a savage of the fiercest and most un- 
 pitying nature should thus in a moment have 
 forgotten his innate disposition, and be con- 
 verted into a harmless and inoffensive ani- 
 mal. Androcles then related to the assembly 
 every circumstance of his adventures, and con- 
 cluded by saying, that the very Lion which now 
 stood before them had been his friend and 
 entertainer in the woods. All present were 
 astonished and delighted with the story, to find 
 that even the fiercest beasts are capable of 
 being softened by gratitude ; and, being moved 
 by humanity, they unanimously joined to 
 entreat for the pardon of the unhappy man, 
 from the governor of the place. This was
 
 AFFECTION OF THE LION. 107 
 
 immediately granted to him, and he was also 
 presented with the Lion, which had twice saved 
 the life of Androcles." 
 
 " That is a delightful story, Uncle Thomas ! 
 What a pity it is that it is not true." 
 
 "I can tell you one which is true, John, 
 which is hardly, if at all, inferior in interest : — 
 
 " Sir George Davis, who was English consul 
 at Naples about the middle of the seventeenth 
 century, happening on one occasion to be in 
 Florence, visited the Menagerie of the Grand 
 Duke. At the farther end of one of the dens 
 he saw a Lion, which lay in sullen majesty, and 
 which the keepers informed him they had been 
 unable to tame, although every effort had been 
 used for upwards of three years. Sir George 
 had no sooner reached the gate of the den, than 
 the Lion ran to it, and evinced every demonstra- 
 tion of joy and transport. The animal reared 
 himself up, purred like a cat when pleased, and 
 licked the hand of Sir George, which he had put 
 through the bars. The keeper was astonished,
 
 108 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 and, alarmed for the safety of his visitor, en- 
 treated him not to trust an apparent fit of frenzy, 
 with which the animal seemed to be seized ; for 
 it was without exception, the most fierce and 
 sullen of his tribe which he had ever seen. 
 Undismayed, however, Sir George, notwithstand- 
 ing every entreaty on the part of the keeper, 
 insisted on entering the Lion's den. The moment 
 he got in, the delighted Lion threw its paws 
 upon his shoulders, licked his face, and ran 
 about him, rubbing its head on Sir George, 
 purring and fawning like a cat when expressing 
 its affection for its master. Such a singular 
 occurrence soon became the town talk of Flo- 
 rence, and reached the ears of the Grand Duke, 
 who sent for Sir George, and requested an inter- 
 view at the menagerie, that he might witness so 
 extraordinary a circumstance. After having 
 satisfied the curiosity of the Grand Duke, Sir 
 George gave the following explanation : ' A 
 captain of a ship from Barbary gave me this 
 Lion, when quite a whelp. I brought him up
 
 GRATITUDE OF THE LION. 109 
 
 tame ; but when I thought him too large to be 
 suffered to run about the house, I built a den 
 for him in my court-yard. From that time he 
 was never permitted to be loose, except when 
 brought to the house to be exhibited to my 
 friends. When he was about five years old, he 
 committed some mischief when pawing and play- 
 ing with people in his frolicsome moods. Having 
 griped a man one day a little too hard, I ordered 
 him to be shot, for fear of myself incurring the 
 guilt of what might happen. A friend, who 
 happened to be at dinner with me when the 
 order was given, begged him as a present. How 
 he came here I know not.' On hearing Sir 
 George's explanation, the Grand Duke told him 
 that he also had received the Lion as a present 
 from the person to whom he had given it." 
 
 " I should have been terribly afraid to have 
 ventured into the Lion's den. Uncle Thomas I" 
 
 " I dare say you would, John, and so should 
 L But some stories are recorded of the gentle- 
 ness of the Lion, as well almost to justify such
 
 110 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 acts of what would otherwise appear foolhardi- 
 ness : Here is one : — 
 
 " Part of a ship's crew being sent ashore on 
 the coast of India for the purpose of cutting 
 wood, the curiosity of one of the men having 
 led him to stray to a considerable distance from 
 his companions, he was much alarmed by the 
 appearance of a huge Lioness, who made to- 
 wards him ; but, on her coming up, his fear was 
 allayed by her crouching at his feet, and look- 
 ing very earnestly, first in his face and then at 
 a tree some little distance off. After repeating 
 this several times she rose, and proceeded 
 towards the tree, looking back, as if asking 
 the sailor to follow. At length he ventured to 
 advance, and, coming to the tree, perceived 
 perched among its highest branches a huge 
 Baboon, with two young cubs in its arms, which 
 he immediately concluded were those of the 
 Lioness, as she crouched down like a cat, and 
 seemed to eye them very wistfully. The man 
 being afraid to ascend the tree, decided on
 
 GRATITUDE OF THE LION. Ill 
 
 cutting it down, and, having his axe with him, 
 he set actively to work, the Lioness all the while 
 watching his operations with the greatest anxiety. 
 When the tree fell, she pounced upon the 
 baboon, and, after tearing it in pieces, turned 
 round, and caressed her cubs for some time. 
 She then returned to the sailor, and tried to 
 express her gratitude by fawning on him, 
 rubbing her head fondly against him; then 
 taking up her cubs in her mouth, she carried 
 them away one by one, and the sailor rejoined 
 his companions, much pleased with the ad- 
 venture. 
 
 " Another author tells such a graphic story 
 of a Lion entertaining a hunter, that I must let 
 you hear it also. Boys, though I must say that 
 I think he has rather overstrained it : — 
 
 " A hunter on one occasion having gone in 
 search of the Lion, and having penetrated a 
 considerable distance into a forest, discovered 
 ill their place of concealment two young Lion- 
 whelps. He stopped for some time amusing
 
 112 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 himself with the little animals, and, waiting for 
 the coming of the sire or the dam, took out his 
 breakfast, and gave them a part. It happened 
 that the Lioness arrived, unperceived by the 
 sportsman, so that he had not time, or perhaps 
 wanted the courage, to take his gun. She 
 waited for some time looking at the man who 
 w^as thus feasting her young, and then retreated 
 into the forest, but soon returned, bearing with 
 her a sheep, which she came and laid at his 
 feet. The hunter, thus made as it were one of 
 the family, took occasion to make a good 
 meal, — skinned the sheep, lighted a fire, and 
 roasted a part, giving the entrails to the young. 
 The Lion, in his turn, came also; and, as if 
 respecting the rights of hospitality, showed no 
 tokens whatever of ferocity. On the following 
 day the hunter took his leave and returned home, 
 after having come to a resolution never more to 
 kill any of these animals, whose noble generosity 
 he had so fully experienced. He stroked and 
 caressed the whelps at taking leave of them,
 
 FEROCITY OF THE LION. 113 
 
 and both the dam and sire accompanied him till 
 he was safely out of the forest!" 
 
 •' Well, Uncle Thomas, I cannot believe that 
 story. I think the man would have been too 
 glad to escape to have staid so long with such 
 unsafe companions." 
 
 " You are quite right, Harry. I cannot 
 expect that you should give credit to a story 
 which I myself disbelieve. Here is one about 
 the ferocity of the Lion which is, however, be- 
 yond all doubt : — 
 
 "In the year 1816 the horses which were 
 dragging the Exeter mail-coach were attacked 
 in the most furious manner by a Lioness, which 
 had escaped from a travelling menagerie. 
 
 " At the moment when the coachman pulled 
 up, to deliver his bags at one of the stages a 
 few miles from the town of Salisbury, one of 
 the leading horses was suddenly seized by a 
 ferocious animal. This of course produced great 
 confusion and alarm. Two passengers, who were 
 inside the coach, got out and ran into the house. 
 
 I
 
 114 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 The horse kicked and plunged violently ; and it 
 was with difficulty the driver could prevent the 
 vehicle from being overturned. The light of 
 the lamps soon enabled the guard to discover 
 that the animal which had seized the horse was 
 a huge Lioness. A large mastiff came up and 
 attacked her fiercely, on which she quitted the 
 horse and turned upon him. The dog fled, but 
 was pursued and killed by the Lioness, before it 
 had run forty yards from the place. It appeared 
 that the ferocious animal had escaped from a 
 menagerie, on its way to Salisbury fair. The 
 alarm being given, the keepers pursued and 
 hunted the Lioness, carrying the dog in her 
 teeth, into a hovel under a granary, which served 
 for keeping agricultural implements. They soon 
 secured her effectually, by barricading the place, 
 so as to prevent her escape. The horse, when 
 first attacked, fought with great spirit ; and, if 
 he had been at liberty, would probably have 
 beaten down his antagonist with his fore feet ; 
 but in plunging he entangled himself in the
 
 FEROCITY OF THE LION. 115 
 
 harness. The Lioness, it appears, attacked him 
 in front, and, springing at his throat, had fastened 
 the talons of her fore feet on each side of his 
 gullet, close to the head, while those of her hind 
 feet were forced into his chest. In this situa- 
 tion she hung, while the blood streamed from 
 the wounds as if a vein had been opened by a 
 lancet. The horse was so dreadfully torn, that 
 he was not at first expected to survive. The 
 expressions of agony, in his tears and moans, 
 were most piteous and affecting. For a con- 
 siderable time after the Lioness had entered the 
 hovel, she continued roaring in a dreadful man- 
 ner, so loud, indeed, that she was distinctly 
 heard at the distance of half a mile. She was 
 eventually secured and led back in triumph to 
 her cell." 
 
 " It was very fortunate that it did not attack 
 the passengers, LTncle Thomas!" 
 
 " Very much so, indeed, Frank ; it might 
 have turned out a very serious affair." 
 
 i2
 
 116 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DWCLB THOMAS TELLS ABOUT THE TIGER, AXD OF THE CURIOUS MODES 
 WHICH ARE ADOPTED FOR ITS CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION'; ALSO 
 ABOUT THE PUMA OR AMERICAN LIOV, AND INTRODUCES SOME 
 HUNTING SCENES IN WORTH ABTD SOUTH AMERICA, WITH OTHER 
 INTERESTING AND ENTERTAINING ADVENTURB8. 
 
 " Long as the stories were, Boys, which I told 
 you last night about the Lion, I have not yet 
 quite done with the animals of the Cat kind ; 
 there are still one or two stories about the Tiger, 
 and the Puma, or American Lion, which I wish 
 to tell you of, if you do not think we have 
 already had enough of them." 
 
 " Oh, no. Uncle Thomas, pray do go on." 
 " Very well, I will first tell you about the 
 Tiger. 
 
 " The Tiger which inhabits the rich jungles 
 of India nearly equals the Lion in strength, and 
 perhaps excels him in fierceness and activity.
 
 FEROCITY OF THE TIGER. 117 
 
 A very affecting instance of his ferocity, by 
 which a fine young man, the only son of Sir 
 Hector Munro, lost his life, is thus related by 
 one of the party : — 
 
 " Yesterday morning, Captain George Downey, 
 Lieutenant Pyefinch, poor Mr. Munro (of the 
 Honourable East India Company's service), and 
 myself (Captain Consar), went on shore, on 
 Saugur Island, to shoot deer. We saw innu- 
 merable tracks of Tigers and deer ; but still we 
 were induced to pursue our sport ; and did so 
 the whole day. About half past three we sat 
 down on the edge of the jungle, to eat some 
 cold meat sent to us from the ship, and had 
 just commenced our meal, when Mr. Pyefinch 
 and a black servant told us there was a fine 
 deer within six yards of us. Captain Downey 
 and I immediately jumped up, to take our guns; 
 mine was nearest, and I had but just laid hold 
 of it, when I heard a roar like thunder, and saw 
 an immense royal Tiger spring on the unfor- 
 tunate Munro, who was sitting down; in a
 
 118 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 moment his head was in the beast's mouth, 
 and he rushed into the jungle with him, with as 
 much ease as I could lift a kitten, tearing him 
 through the thickest bushes and trees, every 
 thing yielding to his monstrous strength. The 
 agonies of horror, regret, and, I must say, fear 
 (for there were two Tigers), rushed on me at 
 once ; the only effort I could make was to fire 
 at him, though the poor youth was still in his 
 mouth. I relied partly on Providence, partly 
 on my own aim, and fired a musket. The Tiger 
 staggered, and seemed agitated, which I took 
 notice of to my companions. Captain Downey 
 then fired two shots, and I one more. We 
 retired from the jungle, and, a few minutes 
 after, Mr. Munro came up to us all over blood, 
 and fell. We took him on our backs to the 
 boat, and got every medical assistance for him 
 from the Valentine Indiaman, which lay at 
 anchor near the island, but in vain. He lived 
 twenty-four hours in the utmost torture ; his 
 head and skull were all torn and broken to
 
 FEROCITY OF THE TIGER. 119 
 
 pieces, and he was also wounded, by the animal's 
 claws, all over his neck and shoulders ; but it 
 was better to take him away, though irrecover- 
 able, than leave him to be mangled and devoured. 
 We have just read the funeral service over his 
 body, and committed it to the deep, Mr. Munro 
 was an amiable and promising youth. I must 
 observe, there was a large fire blazing close to 
 us, composed of ten or a dozen whole trees. I 
 made it myself on purpose to keep the Tigers 
 off, as I had always heard it would. There 
 were eight or ten Of the natives about us ; many 
 shots had been fired at the place ; there was 
 much noise and laughing at the time ; but this 
 ferocious animal disregarded all. The human 
 mind cannot form an idea of the scene ; it turned 
 my very soul within me. The beast was about 
 four feet and a half high, and nine long. His 
 head appeared as large as that of an ox ; his 
 eyes darting fire, and his roar, when he first 
 seized his prey, will never be out of my recol- 
 lection. We had scarcely pushed our boat from
 
 120 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 that accursed shore, when the Tigress made her 
 appearance, raging, almost mad, and remained 
 on the sand, as long as the distance would allow 
 me to see her." 
 
 " Oh, dreadful. Uncle Thomas!" 
 
 " It is a fearful tale, John, and shows you 
 what a scourge such an animal must be to the 
 inhabitants of the country in which it is found. 
 It generally frequents the desert and uninhabited 
 country ; but in some places where civilization 
 has commenced, it prowls about the villages and 
 commits great havoc among the herds of the 
 inhabitants, who therefore find it necessary to 
 adopt various schemes for its destruction : some 
 of these devices are very curious. Here is 
 one : — 
 
 " A large cage of strong bamboos is con- 
 structed, and fastened firmly to the ground, in 
 a place which the Tigers frequent. In this a 
 man takes up his station for the night. He is 
 generally accompanied by a dog or a goat, 
 which by its extreme agitation is sure to give
 
 TIGER HUNTING. 121 
 
 notice of the Tiger's approach. His weapons 
 consist of two or three strong spears, and thus 
 provided he wraps himself in his quilt, and very 
 composedly goes to sleep in the full confidence 
 of safety. By and by the Tiger makes his 
 appearance, and after duly examining the cage 
 all round, begins to rear against it, seeking for 
 some means of entering. The hunter, who 
 watches this opportunity, suddenly darts one of 
 his spears into the animal's body, and seldom 
 fails to destroy it." 
 
 " That is a very good plan, Uncle Thomas. 
 It does not seem to be attended with much 
 danger, if the cage be strong enough." 
 
 " No, Boys, it is not very dangerous, but I 
 don't think any one of you would like to trust 
 yourselves so exposed. Here, however, is an- 
 other mode of destroying the Tiger, which is 
 practised in some parts of India : — 
 
 *' Having ascertained the track by which the 
 Tiger returns to his lair, the peasants collect a 
 quantity of the leaves of a shrub called the
 
 122 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 prous, which bear a strong resemblance to those 
 of the sycamore, and are common in most of 
 the jungles of India. These leaves are smeared 
 with a species of bird-lime, made by bruising 
 the berries of a tree which is found plentifully 
 in these regions. They are then strewed on the 
 ground, near the spot to which it is understood 
 the Tiger usually retires during noon-tide heat. 
 If the animal happens to tread on one of these 
 leaves his fate is certain. He first shakes his 
 paw, with a view to remove the adhesive incum- 
 brance, but finding that it is not to be got rid 
 of so easily, he rubs it against the side of his 
 head, by which means his eyes, ears, &c., be- 
 come covered with the adhesive substance. This 
 occasions such discomfort that it causes him to 
 roll himself over and over perhaps among many 
 more smeared leaves, till at length he becomes 
 completely covered, and is deprived of sight. He 
 soon gives vent to his feelings of anxiety pro- 
 duced by this strange and novel predicament, 
 by dreadful bowlings, which serve to give notice
 
 LION HUNTING. 123 
 
 to the watchful peasants, that their enemy is in 
 their power, when they assemble and destroy 
 the object of their detestation." 
 
 " That is better still, Uncle Thomas ! I think 
 it is the most ingenious way of catching such an 
 animal that I ever heard of." 
 
 " I must now, Boys, tell you something about 
 the Puma, or American Lion, which is also taken 
 in a very curious manner by the natives of 
 South America. It is generally hunted by means 
 of dogs. When they unkennel a Lion or a 
 Tiger, they pursue him till he stops to defend 
 himself The hunter, who is mounted on a 
 good steed, follows close behind, and if the 
 dogs seize upon the animal, the hunter jumps 
 off his horse, and knocks it on the head, while 
 it is engaged contending with the dogs. If, 
 however, the dogs are afraid to attack it, the 
 hunter uses his lasso, dexterously fixes it round 
 some part of the animal, and gallops away, 
 dragging it after him. The dogs now rush upon 
 it, when it is soon dispatched.
 
 124 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 "When wounded the Puma grows furious, and 
 his attack is then almost irresistible. Here is a 
 story which shows the extreme fierceness of the 
 animal : — Two hunters having gone in quest of 
 game to the Katskill mountains, in the state of 
 New York, each armed with a gun, and accom- 
 panied by a dog, they agreed to proceed in con- 
 trary directions round the base of a hill, and 
 that, if either discharged his piece, the other 
 should hasten to the spot whence the report 
 proceeded as speedily as possible, to join in the 
 pursuit of whatever game might fall to their lot. 
 They had not long separated, when the one 
 heard the other fire, and, according to promise, 
 hastened to join his companion. For some 
 time he looked for him in every direction, but 
 in vain. At length he discovered the dog of his 
 friend, dead, and dreadfully lacerated. Con- 
 vinced from this, that the animal which his 
 comrade had fired at was ferocious and formi- 
 dable, he felt increased alarm for his fate, and 
 sought after him with the greatest anxiety. He
 
 PUMA HUNTING. 125 
 
 had not proceeded many yards from the spot 
 where the dog lay, when his attention was 
 arrested by the ferocious growl of some wild 
 animal. On raising his eyes to the spot whence 
 the sound proceeded, he discovered a large 
 Puma on the branch of a tree, sitting upon the 
 body of his friend. The animal's eyes glared 
 at him, and it appeared to be hesitating whether 
 it should descend, and make an attack on the 
 survivor also, or relinquish its prey, and decamp. 
 The hunter, aware of the celerity of the Puma's 
 movements, knew that there was no time for 
 reflection^ levelled his piece, and mortally 
 wounded the animal, when it and the body of 
 the unfortunate hunter fell together from the 
 tree. His dog then attacked the wounded Puma, 
 but a single blow from its paw laid its assailant 
 prostrate. In this state of things, finding that 
 his comrade was dead, and knowing how ex- 
 tremely dangerous it was to approach the 
 wounded animal, he went in search of assist- 
 ance, and on returning to the spot he found
 
 126 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 his companion, the Puma, and the two dogs, all 
 lying dead. 
 
 " The celebrated naturalist Audubon gives an 
 interesting account of a Puma hunt in which he 
 was engaged, in one of the back settlements of 
 North America. In the course of his rambles, 
 investigating the Natural History of the Birds 
 of America, he arrived at the cabin of a settler 
 on the banks of Cold- Water Eiver, and after a 
 hospitable reception, and an evening spent in 
 relating their adventures in the chase, it was 
 agreed in the morning to hunt the Puma which 
 had of late been making sad ravages among 
 the farmer's pigs. 
 
 " The hunters," says M. Audubon, " made 
 their appearance just as the sun was emerging 
 from the horizon. They were five in number, 
 and fully equipped for the chase, being mounted 
 on horses which in some parts of Europe might 
 appear sorry nags, but which, in strength, speed, 
 and bottom, are better fitted for pursuing a 
 Puma or a Bear through the woods and morasses
 
 PUMA HUNTING. 127 
 
 than any in that country. He and myself 
 mounted his two best horses, whilst his sons 
 rode others of inferior quality. 
 
 " Few words were uttered by the party until 
 we had reached the edge of the swamp where it 
 was agreed that all should disperse and seek 
 for the fresh track of the Puma, it being pre- 
 viously settled that the discoverer should blow 
 his horn, and remain on the spot until the rest 
 should join him. In less than an hour, the 
 sound of the horn was clearly heard, and sticking 
 close to the squatter, off we went through the 
 thick woods, guided only by the moon and the 
 repeated call of the distant huntsman. We soon 
 reached the spot, and in a short time the rest 
 of the party came up. The best dog was sent 
 forward to attack the animal, and in a few 
 minutes the whole pack were observed dili- 
 gently tracking and bearing in their course for 
 the interior of the swamp. The rifles were 
 immediately put in trim, and the party followed 
 the dogs at separate distances, within sight of
 
 128 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 each other, determined to shoot at no other game 
 than the Puma. 
 
 " The dogs soon began to mouth, and sud- 
 denly quickened their pace. My companions 
 concluded that the beast was on the ground, and 
 putting our horses to a gentle gallop, we followed 
 the curs, guided by their voices. The noise of 
 the dogs increased, when all of a sudden their 
 mode of barking became altered, and the 
 squatter, urging me to push on, told me the 
 beast was treecl^ by which he meant, that it had 
 got upon some low branch of a large tree, to 
 rest for a few moments, and that should we not 
 succeed in shooting him while thus situated 
 we might expect a long chase of it. As we 
 approached the spot we all by degrees united 
 into a body, but on seeing the dogs at the foot 
 of a large tree separated again, and galloped off 
 to surround it. 
 
 " Each hunter now moved with caution, 
 holding his gun ready, and allowing the bridle 
 to dangle on the neck of his horse, as it advanced
 
 PUMA HUNTING. 129 
 
 slowly towards the dogs. A shot from one of 
 the party was heard, on which the Puma was 
 seen to leap to the ground and bound off with 
 such velocity as to show that he was very un- 
 willing to stand our fire longer. The dogs set 
 off in pursuit with the utmost eagerness and a 
 deafening cry ; the hunter who had fired came 
 up, and said that his ball had hit the monster, 
 and had probably broken one of his fore legs 
 near the shoulder, the only place at which he 
 could aim ; a slight trail of blood was discovered 
 on the ground, but the curs proceeded at such a 
 rate, that we merely noticed this and put spurs 
 to our horses, which galloped on towards the 
 centre of the swamp. One bayou (a part of 
 the swamp in which the water accumulates) 
 was crossed, then another still larger and more 
 muddy, but the dogs were brushing forward, 
 and as the horses began to pant at a furious 
 rate, we judged it expedient to leave them and 
 advance on foot. These determined hunters 
 knew that the animal, being wounded, would 
 
 K
 
 130 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 shortly ascend another tree, where in all proba- 
 bility he would remain for a considerable time, 
 and that it was easy to follow the track of the 
 dogs. We dismounted, took off the saddles and 
 bridles, set the bells attached to the horses' 
 necks at liberty to jingle, hoppled the animals 
 (fastened the bridle to one of their legs so that 
 they could not stray far), and left them to shift 
 for themselves. 
 
 " After marching for a couple of hours, we 
 again heard the dogs. Each of us pressed 
 forward, elated at the thought of terminating 
 the career of the Puma ; some of the dogs were 
 heard whining, although the greater part barked 
 vehemently. We felt assured that the animal 
 was treed, and that he would rest for some time 
 to recover from his fatigue. As we came up to 
 the dogs we discovered the furious animal lying 
 across a large branch close to the trunk of a 
 cotton- wood tree. His broad breast lay towards 
 us, his eyes were at one time bent on us, and 
 again on the dogs, beneath, and around him ;
 
 PUMA HUNTING. 131 
 
 one of his fore-legs hung down loosely by his 
 side, and he lay crouched with his ears lowered 
 close to his head, as if he thought he might 
 remain undiscovered. Three balls were fired at 
 him at a given signal, on which he sprung a 
 few feet from the branch, and tumbled headlong 
 to the ground. Attacked on all sides by the 
 enraged curs, the infuriated animal fought with 
 desperate valour; but the squatter advancing 
 in front of the party, and almost in the midst 
 of the dogs, shot him immediately behind and 
 beneath the left shoulder. He writhed for a 
 moment in agony, and in another lay dead." 
 
 '' It must be very exciting employment, hunt- 
 ing the Puma, Uncle Thomas !" 
 
 " And not a little dangerous too, Boys, for you 
 hear how fiercely he maintains his ground. 
 With all their fierceness, however, the fear of 
 man is over even this relentless race of animals. 
 Captain Head, who has written an amusing book 
 called ' Eough Notes of Rapid Journies across the 
 Pampas' (or plains), thus speaks on this subject : — 
 k2
 
 132 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " The fear which all wild animals in America 
 have of man is very singularly exhibited in the 
 Pampas. I often rode towards the Ostriches 
 and Zamas, crouching under the opposite side of 
 my horse's neck ; but I always found that, 
 although they would allow my loose horse to 
 approach them, they, even when young, ran 
 from me, though little of my figure was visible ; 
 and when I saw them all enjoying themselves 
 in such full liberty, it was at first not pleasing 
 to observe that one's appearance was every where 
 a signal to them that they should fly from their 
 enemy. Yet it is by this fear ' that man hath 
 dominion over the beasts of the field,' and there 
 is no animal in South America that does not 
 acknowledge this instinctive feeling. As a 
 singular proof of the above, and of the differ- 
 ence between the wild beasts of America and of 
 the old world, I will venture to relate a circum- 
 stance which a man sincerely assured me had 
 happened to him in South America. 
 
 '' He was trying to shoot some Wild Ducks,
 
 '; He fe't something heavy strike hii feet, and instantly 
 jumping lip, saw a large Puma standing on his cloak." 
 
 Page 133
 
 THE PUMA. 133 
 
 and, in order to approach them unperceived, 
 he put the corner of his poncho (which is a 
 sort of long narrow blanket) over his head, 
 and crawling along the ground upon his hands 
 and knees, the poncho not only covered his 
 body, but trailed along the ground behind him. 
 As he was thus creeping by a large bush of 
 reeds, he heard a loud, sudden noise, between 
 a bark and a roar; he felt something heavy 
 strike his feet, and, instantly jumping up, he 
 saw to his astonishment, a large Puma actually 
 standing on his poncho; and, perhaps, the 
 animal was equally astonished to find himself 
 in the immediate presence of so athletic a man. 
 The man told me he was unwilling to fire, as 
 his gun was loaded with very small shot ; and 
 he therefore remained motionless, the Puma 
 standing on his poncho for many seconds; at 
 last the creature turned its head, and walking 
 very slowly away about ten yards, stopped, 
 and turned again, the man still maintain- 
 ed his ground; upon which the Puma tacitly
 
 134 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 acknowledged his supremacy, and walked 
 off." 
 
 " I dare say the man was very glad to be 
 so easily quit of such a formidable visitor, 
 Uncle Thomas." 
 
 " No doubt of it, Frank. I have one other 
 story to tell you about the Puma, which fortu- 
 nately exhibits it in a more favourable light 
 than some of those which I have told you : — 
 
 " During the government of Don Diego 
 de Mendoza, in Paraguay, a dreadful famine 
 raged at Buenos Ayres ; yet Diego, afraid to 
 give the Indians a habit of spilling Spanish 
 blood, forbade the inhabitants, on pain of death, 
 to go into the fields, in search of relief, placing 
 soldiers at all the outlets to the country, with 
 orders to fire upon those who should attempt to 
 transgress his orders. A woman, however, 
 called Maldonata, was artful enough to elude 
 the vigilance of the guards, and to effect her 
 escape. After wandering about the country for 
 a long time, she sought shelter in a cavern ;
 
 THE puma's gratitude. 135 
 
 but she had scarcely entered it, when she be- 
 came dreadfully alarmed, on observing a Puma 
 occupying the same den. She was, however, 
 soon quieted by the animal approaching and 
 caressing her. The poor brute was very ill, 
 and scarcely able to crawl towards her. Mal- 
 donata soon discovered what was the cause of 
 the animal's illness, and kindly ministered to 
 it. It soon recovered, and was all gratitude 
 and attention to its kind benefactress, never 
 returning from searching after its daily subsis- 
 tence, without laying a portion of it at the feet 
 of Maldonata. 
 
 " Some time after, Maldonata fell into the 
 hands of the Spaniards ; and, being brought 
 back to Buenos Ayres, was conducted before 
 Don Francis Euez de Galen, who then com- 
 manded there. She was charged with having 
 left the city, contrary to orders. Galen was a 
 man of cruel and tyrannical disposition, and 
 condemned the unfortunate woman to a death 
 which none but the most cruel tyrant could
 
 136 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 have devised. He ordered some soldiers to 
 take her into the country, and leave her tied to 
 a tree, either to perish with hunger, or to be 
 torn to pieces by wild beasts. Two days after, 
 he sent the same soldiers to see what had been 
 her fate, when to their great surprise, they 
 found her alive and unhurt, though surrounded 
 by Pumas and Jaguars, while a female Puma, 
 at her feet, kept them at bay. As soon as the 
 Puma saw the soldiers, she retired to some 
 distance; and they unbound Maldonata, who 
 related to them the history of this Puma, which 
 she knew to be the same she had formerly 
 relieved in the cavern. On the soldiers taking 
 Maldonata away, the animal approached, and 
 fawned upon her, as if unwilling to part. The 
 soldiers reported what they had seen to their 
 commander, who could not but pardon a woman 
 who had been so singularly protected, without 
 the danger of appearing more inhuman than 
 Pumas themselves. 
 
 " I must now bid you good-night, Boys ;
 
 THE puma's gratitude. 137 
 
 to-morrow evening I will tell you some stories 
 illustrating the migrating instinct of animals — 
 one of the most curious in the whole range of 
 Natural History." 
 
 " Good night, Uncle Thomas."
 
 138 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS TKLLS ABOUT THE MIGRATING INSTINCT OF ANIMALS : — OF 
 THE HOUSE SWALLOW OF ENGLAND; AND THE ESCULENT SWALLOW, 
 WHOSE NEST IS EATEN BY THE CHINESE. ALSO ABOUT THE PASSENGER 
 PIGEON OF AMERICA; OF THE LAND-CRAB AND ITS MIGRATIONS; AND OF 
 THOSE OF THE SALMON AND THE HERRING. 
 
 " Good evening, Uncle Thomas ! I heard to- 
 day of a Swallow which for many years re- 
 turned to the same window, and built its nest 
 in the same comer. Now, as I believe Swal- 
 lows are birds of passage, and leave this 
 country to spend the winter in warmer climates, 
 I wish you to explain to me how it is that 
 they can return from such distances to the 
 same spot." 
 
 " That is a question, Frank, which I cannot 
 very well answer, but so many instances of 
 the kind have been observed as to leave no
 
 MIGRATION OF THE SWALLOW. 
 
 139 
 
 doubt on the subject. Dr. Jenner, the cele- 
 brated naturalist, ascertained the fact by experi- 
 ment. He marked a certain number of birds, 
 by cutting off two claws. Several of them 
 returned the following year, and one was even 
 found so marked seven years afterwards. The 
 Swallow has sometimes been known even to 
 penetrate into the house, and for years to attach 
 its nest to the same articles of furniture. 
 
 "At Camerton Hall, near Bath, a pair of 
 Swallows built their nest for three successive 
 years on the upper part of the frame of an old 
 picture over the chimney. They found their 
 way into the room through a broken pane in 
 one of the windows, and would probably have 
 continued to build in the same place, but the 
 room having been put into repair, they could 
 no longer obtain access to it." 
 
 " Is it want of food which causes birds to 
 migrate. Uncle Thomas V 
 
 The cause of the migration of birds, Frank, 
 is involved in mystery : by some naturalists it
 
 140 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 is assigned to the variations of the seasons, 
 or to the plentifulness or scarcity of food. 
 Dr. Jenner, who paid much attention to the 
 subject, came to the conclusion, that it arises 
 from feelings connected with rearing their young. 
 To whatever cause it is assigned, it must be 
 admitted, that it is the operation of an Instinct, 
 impressed on them by the Creator, and cannot 
 be the result of mere experience. Thus, for 
 instance, an old Swallow might know that 
 when its food fails here, it becomes plentiful 
 elsewhere, or that when the weather becomes 
 cold and boisterous in this country, beyond the 
 sea there are more genial climates ; but the young 
 bird which had never been more than a few 
 miles from the place where it was hatched can 
 have no such experimental knowledge; yet, 
 when the season arrives we find them all 
 ready to start. I dare say you have seen 
 them, Boys, gathering in flocks and resting 
 on the house-tops, as if taking breath before 
 setting out on their long journey."
 
 MIGRATION OF THE SWALLOW. 141 
 
 " Oh, yes, Uncle Thomas, but I have heard 
 that they dive to the bottom of lakes and ponds, 
 arid remain there till winter is over." 
 
 " Many foolish stories are told of live Swal- 
 lows having been found in such situations, 
 Harry, but they are now well known to be 
 fables. The house Swallow, which remains 
 with us till October, spends the rest of the 
 year in Africa. Last autumn I watched with 
 great pleasure the movements of a flock, which 
 was evidently preparing for their arduous flight. 
 
 " For several evenings they assembled in 
 large numbers on a tree at a short distance 
 from my house, and, after sitting for some 
 time, one of them, who appeared to be com- 
 mander-in-chief, kept flying about in all direc- 
 tions, and at length, with a sharp and loudly 
 repeated call, darted up into the air. In an 
 instant the whole congregation were on the 
 wing, following their leader in a sort of spiral 
 track. In a little time they had risen so high, 
 that I lost sight of them, but after a short
 
 142 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 absence they again returned and took up their 
 position on the tree which they had just left. 
 
 " This exercise they continued for some 
 time, till one day they set off in reality, and I 
 saw no more of them for the season." 
 
 " I have read, somewhere, Uncle Thomas, 
 that the Chinese eat Swallows' nests. Surely 
 these cannot be the same sort of nests as our 
 Swallows build?" 
 
 "No, Frank, they are not. Various opinions 
 are entertained as to the substance of which the 
 nest of the Esculent Swallow is made. Sir 
 George Staunton, who accompanied Lord Ma- 
 cartney in his embassy to China, gives a very 
 interesting account both of the Swallow and 
 of its nest : — 
 
 " In the Cass," says Sir George, " a small 
 island near Sumatra, we found two caverns 
 running horizontally into the side of the rock, 
 and in these were a number of those birds' 
 nests so much prized by the Chinese epicures. 
 They seemed to be composed of fine filaments,
 
 THE ESCULENT SWALLOW. 143 
 
 cemented together by a transparent viscous 
 matter, not unlike what is left by the foam 
 of the sea upon stones alternately covered by 
 the tide, or those gelatinous animal substances 
 found floating on every coast. The nests ad- 
 here to each other and to the sides of the 
 cavern, mostly in horizontal rows, without any 
 break or interruption, and at different depths 
 from fifty to five hundred feet. The birds that 
 build these nests are small grey Swallows, with 
 bellies of a dirty white. They were flying 
 about in considerable numbers, but were so 
 small, and their flight was so quick, that they 
 escaped the shot fired at them. The same sort 
 of nests are said to be also found in deep 
 caverns at the foot of the highest mountains 
 in the middle of Java, at a distance from the 
 sea, from which source it is thought that the 
 birds derive no materials, either for their food, 
 or the construction of their nests, as it does 
 not appear probable they should fly in search of 
 either over the intermediate mountains, which
 
 144 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 are very high, or against the boisterous winds 
 prevailing thereabouts. They feed on insects 
 which they find hovering over stagnated pools 
 between the mountains, and for the catching 
 ef which their wide opening beaks are particu- 
 larly adapted. They prepare their nests from 
 the best remnants of their food. Their greatest 
 enemy is the Kite, who often intercepts them 
 in their passage to and from the caverns, which 
 are generally surrounded with rocks of grey 
 limestone or white marble. The colour and 
 value of the nest depend on the quantity and 
 quality of the insects caught, and perhaps also 
 on the situation where they are built. Their 
 value is chiefly ascertained by the uniform fine- 
 ness and delicacy of their texture, those that 
 are white and transparent being most esteemed, 
 and fetching often in China their weight in 
 silver. 
 
 " These nests are a considerable object of 
 traffic among the Javanese, many of whom are 
 employed in it from their infancy. The birds.
 
 THE ESCULENT SWALLOW. 145 
 
 after having spent nearly two months in pre- 
 paring their nests, lay each two eggs, which are 
 hatched in about fifteen days. When the young 
 birds become fledged, it is thought the proper 
 time to seize upon their nests, which is done 
 regularly three times a year, and is effected by 
 means of ladders of bamboo and reeds, by which 
 the people descend into the caverns ; but when 
 these are very deep, rope ladders are preferred. 
 This operation is attended with much danger, 
 and several perish in the attempt. The in- 
 haliitants of the mountains generally employed 
 in this business begin always by sacrificing a 
 buffalo, which custom is observed by the 
 Javanese on the eve of every extraordinary 
 enterprise. They also pronounce some prayers, 
 anoint themselves with sweet-scented oil, and 
 smoke the entrance of the cavern with gum- 
 benjamin. Near some of the caverns a tutelar 
 goddess is worshipped, whose priest burns in- 
 cense, and lays his projecting hands on every 
 person preparing to descend. A flambeau is 
 
 L
 
 146 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 carefully prepared at the same time, with a gum 
 which exudes from a tree growing in the 
 Adcinity, and which is not easily extinguished 
 by fixed air or subterraneous vapours." 
 
 "But how are the nests used, Uncle Thomas'? 
 Are they prepared in any way, or are they fit 
 for the table as they are taken down *?" 
 
 " They are always prepared before they are 
 eaten. The finest sort, which are of a clear 
 colour, and not unlike isinglass, are dissolved 
 in soup, to which they are said to give an exqui- 
 site flavour. After being well soaked and cleaned, 
 they are put into an earthen pot with a fowl 
 or duck, and allowed to simmer over a slow 
 fire for twenty-four hours. They are, however, 
 chiefly used as articles of luxury or ornament 
 for the tables of the rich Chinese, to whom 
 they are sold at very high prices, the finest 
 sort sometimes selling so high as two guineas 
 a pound." 
 
 " Thank you. Uncle Thomas." 
 
 " I have only one more story to tell you about
 
 AFFECTION OF THE SWALLOW. 147 
 
 the Swallow, Boys, and then I must turn to two 
 or three other animals, whose migrations are 
 no less remarkable. 
 
 " A Swallow's nest, built in the west corner 
 of a window facing the north, was so much 
 softened by the long continued beating of the 
 rain against it, that it became too weak to 
 support the weight of the young brood, con- 
 sisting of five pretty full-grown Swallows. At 
 length the nest fell into the lower corner of the 
 window, leaving the young Swallows exposed 
 to all the fury of the blast. To save the little 
 creatures from an untimely death, the owner of 
 the house benevolently caused a covering to be 
 thrown over them, till the severity of the storm 
 was past. When it had subsided, the sages 
 of the little colony assembled, fluttering round 
 the window, and hovering over the temporary 
 covering of the fallen nest. As soon as this 
 was observed, the covering was removed, and 
 the utmost joy evinced by the group, on finding 
 the young ones alive and unhurt. After feeding 
 L 2
 
 148 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 them, and fiuttering about for a short time, the 
 vS wallows arranged themselves into working 
 order. Each division, taking its appropriate 
 station, commenced instantly to work, and be- 
 fore night-fall they had by their exertions com- 
 pleted an arched canopy over the young brood 
 in the comer where they lay, and thus securely 
 covered them from the severity of the weather. 
 From the time which it took them to perform 
 this piece of architecture, it appeared evident 
 that the young must have perished from cold 
 and hunger, before any single pair could have 
 executed half the job." 
 
 '' How very kind, Uncle Thomas! Had 
 they been reasoning creatures, they could not 
 have behaved more properly." 
 
 " I dare say not, Frank. Such traits over- 
 step the limits of Instinct, and almost trespass 
 on those of reason. 
 
 "You asked, Frank, if it is want of food 
 which prompts the migration of animals from 
 one place to another. In some cases it is so,
 
 THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 149 
 
 undoubtedly ; as, for instance, in that of the 
 American Passenger Pigeon. The account which 
 I am going to read ta you is from the work of 
 the great naturalist, Wilson : — 
 
 " The migrations of these Pigeons appear to 
 be undertaken rather in quest of food than 
 merely to avoid the cold of the climate ; since 
 we find them lingering in the northern regions 
 around Hudson's Bay so late as December, and 
 since their appearance is so casual and irregular, 
 sometimes not visiting certain districts for several 
 years in any considerable numbers, while at 
 other times they are innumerable. I have often 
 witnessed these migrations in the Gennesee 
 country, often in Pennsylvania, and also in 
 various parts of Virginia, with amazement; but 
 all that I have seen of them are mere straggling 
 parties, when compared with the congregated 
 millions which I have since beheld in the 
 western forests in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, 
 and the Indiana territory. These fertile and 
 extensive regions abound with the nutritious
 
 150 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 Tjeech nut, which constitutes the chief food of 
 the wild Pigeon. In seasons when these 
 nuts are abundant, corresponding multitudes of 
 Pigeons may be confidently expected. It some- 
 times happens that, having consumed the whole 
 produce of the beech trees in an extensive dis- 
 trict, they discover another at the distance of 
 perhaps sixty or eighty miles, to which they 
 regularly repair every morning, and return as 
 regularly in the course of the day, or in the 
 evening, to their place of general rendezvous, 
 or, as it is generally called, the roosting place. 
 These roosting places are always in the woods, 
 and sometimes occupy a large extent of forest. 
 When they have frequented one of these places 
 for some time, the appearance it exhibits is 
 surprising. The ground is covered to the depth 
 of several inches with their dung ; all the tender 
 grass and underwood destroyed; the surface 
 strewed with large limbs of trees, broken down 
 by the weight of the birds clustering one above 
 another, and the trees themselves, for thousands
 
 THE PASSENGER PIGEOK. 151 
 
 of acres, killed as completely as if girdled with 
 an axe. The marks of this desolation remain 
 for many years on the spot, and numerous 
 places could be pointed out, where for several 
 years after scarcely a single vegetable made its 
 appearance. 
 
 " When these roosts are first discovered, the 
 inhabitants from considerable distances visit 
 them in the night with guns, clubs, long poles, 
 pots of sulphur, and various other engines of 
 destruction. In a few hours they fill many 
 sacks and load their horses with them. By the 
 Indians, a pigeon roost or breeding place is 
 considered an important source of national profit 
 and dependence for the season, and all their 
 active ingenuity is exercised on the occasion. 
 The breeding place differs from the former in its 
 greater extent. In the western countries before 
 mentioned, these are generally in beech woods, 
 and often extend in nearly a straight line across 
 the country for a great way. Not far from 
 Shelby ville, in the State of Kentucky, about
 
 152 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 five years ago, there was one of these breed- 
 ing places, stretching through the woods in 
 nearly a north and south direction, which was 
 several miles in breadth, and was said to be 
 upwards of forty miles in extent. In this tract 
 almost every tree was furnished with nests 
 wherever the branches could accommodate 
 them. 
 
 " As soon as the young were fully grown, 
 and before they left the nests, numerous parties 
 of the inhabitants, from all parts of the adjacent 
 country, came with wagons, axes, beds, cooking 
 utensils, many of them accompanied by the 
 greater part of their families, and encamped for 
 several days in this immense nursery. Several 
 of them informed me that the noise in the woods 
 was so great as to terrify their horses, and that 
 it was difficult for one person to hear another 
 speak without bawling in his ear. The ground 
 was strewed with broken limbs of trees, eggs, 
 and young squab Pigeons which had been pre- 
 cipitated from above, and on which herds of
 
 THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 153 
 
 Hogs were fattening; Hawks, Buzzards, and 
 Eagles were sailing about in great numbers, and 
 seizing the squabs from their nests at pleasure ; 
 while from twenty feet upwards to the tops of 
 the trees, the view through the woods presented 
 a perpetual tumult of crowding and fluttering 
 multitudes of Pigeons, their wings roaring like 
 thunder, mingled with the frequent crash of 
 falling timber; for now the axemen were at 
 work, cutting down those trees which seemed 
 to be most crowded with nests, and contrived 
 to fell them in such a manner, that in their 
 descent they might bring down several others, 
 by which means the falling of one large tree 
 sometimes produced two hundred squabs, little 
 inferior in size to the old Pigeons, and almost 
 one mass of fat. On some single trees, upwards 
 of one hundred nests were found, each containing 
 one young only, a circumstance in the history 
 of this bird not generally known to naturalists. 
 It was dangerous to walk under these fluttering 
 and flying millions, from the frequent fall of
 
 154 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 large branches, broken down by the weight 
 of the multitudes above, and which in their 
 descent often destroyed numbers of the birds 
 themselves. 
 
 " I had left the public road to visit the re- 
 mains of the breeding place near Shelbyville, 
 and was traversing the woods with my gun on 
 my way to Frankfort, when, about one o'clock, 
 the Pigeons which I had observed flying the 
 greater part of the morning northerly began to 
 return in such immense numbers as I never 
 before had witnessed; coming to an opening by 
 the side of a creek called the Benson, where 
 I had a more uninterrupted view, I was asto- 
 nished at their appearance. They were flying 
 with great steadiness and rapidity, at a height 
 beyond gun-shot, and several strata deep, and 
 so close together, that could shot have reached 
 them, one discharge could not have failed in 
 bringing down several individuals. From right 
 to left as far as the eye could reach, the breadth 
 of this vast procession extended, seeming every
 
 THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 155 
 
 where equally crowded. Curious to determine 
 how long this appearance would continue, I 
 took out my watch to note the time, and sat 
 down to observe them. It was then half-past 
 one ; I sat for more than an hour, but instead 
 of a diminution of this prodigious procession, it 
 seemed rather to increase both in numbers and 
 rapidity, and anxious to reach Frankfort before 
 night, I arose and went on. About four o'clock 
 in the afternoon, I crossed the Kentucky river 
 at the town of Frankfort, at which time the 
 living torrent above my head seemed as numerous 
 and as extensive as ever ; and long after this, 
 I observed them in large bodies that continued 
 to pass for six or eight minutes, and these again 
 were followed by other detached bodies, all 
 moving in the same south-east direction, till 
 after six in the evening. The great breadth of 
 front which this mighty multitude preserved 
 would seem to intimate a corresponding breadth 
 of their breeding place, which, by several gentle- 
 men who had lately passed through part of it,
 
 156 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 was stated to me at several miles. It was said 
 to be in Green County, and that the young 
 began to fly about the middle of March. On 
 the 17th of April, forty-nine miles beyond Dan- 
 ville, and not far from Green River, I crossed 
 this same breeding place, where the nests for 
 more than three miles spotted every tree ; the 
 leaves not being yet out, I had a fair prospect 
 of them, and was really astonished at their 
 numbers. A few bodies of Pigeons lingered 
 yet in different parts of the woods, the roaring 
 of whose wings was heard in various quarters 
 around me. 
 
 " The vast quantity of food which these mul- 
 titudes consume is a serious loss to the other 
 animals, such as Bears, Pigs, Squirrels, which 
 are dependent on the fruits of the forest. I 
 have taken from the crop of a single wild 
 Pigeon a good handful of the kernels of beech 
 nuts intermixed with acorns and chesnuts. To 
 form a rough estimate of the daily consumption 
 of one of these immense flocks, let us first
 
 THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 157 
 
 attempt to calculate the numbers above men- 
 tioned, as seen in passing between Frankfort 
 and the Indian Territory. If we suppose this 
 column to have been one mile in breadth (and 
 I believe it to have been much more), and that 
 it moved at the rate of one mile in a minute, 
 four hours, the time it continued passing, would 
 make its whole length two hundred and forty 
 miles. Again, supposing that each square yard 
 of this moving body comprehended three Pigeons, 
 the square yards in the whole space, multiplied 
 by three, would give two thousand two hundred 
 and thirty millions two hundred and seventy- 
 two thousand Pigeons! — an almost incredible 
 multitude, and yet far below the actual amount. 
 Computing each of these to consume half a pint 
 of mast (nuts, and other seeds of trees) daily, 
 the whole quantity, at this rate, would equal 
 seventeen millions four hundred and twenty- 
 four thousand bushels per day! Heaven has 
 wisely and graciously given to these birds rapi- 
 dity of flight, and a disposition to range over
 
 158 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 vast uncultivated tracts of the earth ; otherwise 
 they must have perished in the districts where 
 they resided, or devoured the whole productions 
 of agriculture, as well as those of the forests. 
 
 " The appearance of large detached flocks of 
 these birds in the air, and the various evolutions 
 they display, are strikingly picturesque and in- 
 teresting. In descending the Ohio by myself, 
 I often rested on my oars to contemplate their 
 aerial manoeuvres. A column of eight or ten 
 miles in length would appear from Kentucky 
 high in air, steering across to Indiana. The 
 leaders of this great body would sometimes 
 gradually vary their course, till it formed a large 
 bend of more than a mile in diameter, those 
 behind tracing the exact route of their prede- 
 cessors. This w^ould continue sometimes long 
 after both extremities were beyond the reach of 
 sight ; so that the whole with its glittering 
 undulations marked a space on the face of the 
 heavens resembling the windings of a vast 
 majestic river. When this bend became very
 
 THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 159 
 
 great, the birds, as if sensible of the unneces- 
 sarily circuitous route they were taking, sud- 
 denly changed their direction, so that what was 
 in column before became an immense front, 
 straightening all its indentures until it swept 
 the heavens in one vast and infinitely extended 
 line. Other lesser bodies also united with each 
 other as they happened to approach, and with 
 such ease and elegance of evolution, forming 
 new figures and varying these as they united or 
 separated, that I was never tired of contem- 
 plating them. Sometimes a Hawk would sweep 
 on a particular part of the column from a great 
 height, when almost as quick as lightning that 
 part shot downwards out of the common track, 
 but soon rising again, continued advancing at 
 the same height as before. This inflection was 
 continued by those behind, who, on arriving at 
 this point, dived down almost perpendicularly to 
 a great depth, and rising followed the exact 
 path of those that went before. 
 
 " Happening to go ashore one channing after-
 
 160 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 noon to purchase some milk at a house that 
 stood near the river, and while talking with the 
 people within doors, I was suddenly struck with 
 astonishment at a loud rushing roar, succeeded 
 by instant darkness, which for the first moment 
 I took for a tornado about to overwhelm the 
 house, and every thing around, in destruction. 
 The people, observing my surprise, coolly said, 
 ' It is only the Pigeons,' and on running out, I 
 beheld a flock thirty or forty yards in width, 
 sweeping along very low between the house and 
 the mountain or height that formed the second 
 bank of the river. These continued crossing for 
 more than a quarter of an hour, and at length 
 varied their bearing, so as to pass over the 
 mountain, behind which they disappeared be- 
 fore the rear came up." 
 
 " That is amazing. Uncle Thomas ! two 
 thousand millions of live birds ! I can scarcely 
 form an idea of such a mass of living creatures." 
 
 ^' There is something almost overwhelming 
 in the thought, Frank ; and yet in some parts of
 
 MIGRATIONS OF THE LAND-CRAB. 161 
 
 the world are to be found flocks of animals 
 perhaps even more astonishing, when we con- 
 sider how much less they are fitted for moving 
 about, travelling at stated intervals from the 
 mountains to the sea-coast, and returning again 
 to their old habitations, after having fulfilled 
 the purposes for which this Instinctive feeling 
 was implanted in them." 
 
 " Which animals do you mean, Uncle 
 Thomas'?" 
 
 " I allude to the Land-Crab, which is a native 
 of the Bahamas, and also of most of the other 
 islands between the tropics. They live in clefts 
 of the rocks, or holes which they dig for them- 
 selves among the mountains, and feed on vege- 
 tables. About the month of April or May, 
 they descend to the sea-coast in a body of 
 millions at a time, for the purpose of depositing 
 their spawn. They march in a direct line 
 towards their destination, and seldom turn out 
 of their way, even should they encounter a 
 wall or a house, but boldly attempt to scale it. 
 
 M
 
 162 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 If, however, they arrive at a river, they wind 
 along the course of the stream, and thus reach 
 the sea. 
 
 " In their procession they are as regular as 
 an army under the command of an experienced 
 general, and are usually divided into three 
 battalions. The first body consists of the 
 strongest males, which march forward to clear 
 the route and face the greatest dangers. The 
 main body is composed of females, and is 
 formed into columns, sometimes extending fifty 
 or sixty yards in breadth, and three miles in 
 depth. At a considerable distance follows the 
 third division or rear guard, a straggling un- 
 disciplined mass, consisting of both males and 
 females, but neither so robust nor so vigorous 
 as the former. 
 
 " Though they are easily drowned, a certain 
 portion of moisture seems necessary to the 
 existence of these animals, and the advanced 
 guard is often obliged to halt from the want of 
 rain. The females, indeed, never leave the
 
 MIGRATIONS OF THE LAND-CRAB. 163 
 
 mountains till the rainy season has fairly set in. 
 They march chiefly during the night, but if it 
 happens to rain during the day, they always 
 take advantage of the circumstance to move 
 forward. When the sun is hot they halt till 
 evening. They travel very slowly, and are 
 sometimes three months in gaining the shore. 
 When alarmed they run in a confused and 
 disorderly manner, holding up and clattering 
 their nippers in a threatening attitude, and bite 
 severely. If in their journey any of them should 
 be so maimed as to be unable to proceed, the 
 others fall upon it and devour it. 
 
 " Arrived on the coast, they prepare to de- 
 posit their spawn. They go to the edge of the 
 water, and allow the waves to wash twice or 
 thrice over their bodies, and then withdraw to 
 seek a lodging upon the land. After a short 
 time they again seek the sea-side, and leave the 
 spawn, which strongly resembles the roe of the 
 Herring, to be brought to maturity by the heat 
 of the sun. Much of it is devoured by the 
 m2
 
 164 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 fishes, which watch their annual arrival ; that 
 which escapes soon arrives at maturity, and 
 millions of little Crabs are then to be seen slowly 
 travelling towards the mountains. 
 
 " The old ones in the mean time seek to 
 return to their old haunts, but so feeble are 
 they that they seem scarcely able to crawl along. 
 Some of them, indeed, are obliged to remain in 
 the level parts of the country till they recover, 
 making holes in the earth, which they block 
 up with fallen leaves and other substances. In 
 these they cast their old shells, after which they 
 soon recover, and become very fat. 
 
 " At the season of their descent from the 
 mountains, the natives of the islands which 
 they inhabit, to whom they afford a delicious 
 food, eagerly wait for them and take them in 
 thousands. In their descent they are caught 
 for the roe or spawn only, the flesh being 
 then poor and lean : but on their return from 
 the sea-side they are in great repute, being then 
 fat and high flavoured.
 
 AFFECTION IN FISHES. 165 
 
 " The Crab-catchers adopt various modes of 
 securing them, but they are obliged to be very 
 cautious, for when the animals perceive them- 
 selves attacked, they throw themselves on their 
 backs and snap their claws about, pinching 
 whatever they lay hold of very severely. 
 The Crab-catchers, however, manage to seize 
 them by the legs in such a manner, as that the 
 nippers cannot reach them." 
 
 " You said. Uncle Thomas, that the fishes 
 watch the descent of the Crabs, that they 
 might feed on the spawn. Do you think that 
 fishes are as intelligent as the higher classes of 
 animals, Uncle Thomas "^ " 
 
 " No doubt of it, Frank. Many curious 
 stories of the intelligence of fishes are on 
 record. Of their affection we have also many 
 proofs. A person who kept two small fishes in 
 a glass separated them, when the one which 
 was left refused to eat, and showed evident 
 symptoms of unhappiness till his companion 
 was restored to him.
 
 166 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " Many fishes migrate from place to place, 
 in the same way as the animals of which I have 
 just told you. The Salmon leaves the sea, 
 and seeks its way up the rivers, stemming their 
 most rapid currents, and scaling their highest 
 waterfalls with a determination which can only 
 be the result of an Instinct implanted by their 
 Creator." 
 
 " And the Herring, Uncle Thomas ; does not 
 it come every year from the Polar seas to spawn 
 on our shores'? I read a very interesting ac- 
 count of their progress southwards somewhere 
 lately." 
 
 " I can tell you where, Frank ; I will show 
 it you, and when you have read it aloud, I will 
 point out one or two mistakes, which it is as 
 well to clear your mind of It is in old Pen- 
 nant's work ; here it is ; will you read it to us, 
 John*?" 
 
 " With pleasure. Uncle Thomas : — 
 
 " This mighty army begins to put itself in 
 motion in the spring. They begin to appear off
 
 MIGRATIONS OF THE HERRING. 167 
 
 the Shetland Islands in April and May. This 
 is the first check this army meets in its march 
 southward. There it is divided into two parts; 
 one wing of those destined to visit the Scottish 
 coast takes to the east, the other to the western 
 shores of Great Britain, and fill every bay and 
 creek with their numbers; others proceed to- 
 wards Yarmouth, the great and ancient mart of 
 Herrings ; they then pass through the British 
 Channel, and after that in a manner disappear. 
 Those which take to the west, after offering 
 themselves to the Hebrides, where the great 
 stationary fishery is, proceed towards the north 
 of Ireland, where they meet with a second in- 
 terruption and are obliged to make a second 
 division ; the one takes to the western side and 
 is scarcely perceived, being soon lost in the 
 immensity of the Atlantic, but the other, which 
 passes into the Irish Sea, rejoins, and feeds the 
 inhabitants of most of the coasts that border on 
 it. The brigades, as we call them, which are 
 separated from the greater columns, are often
 
 168 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 capricious in their motions, and do not show 
 an invariable attachment to their haunts." 
 
 " Thank you, John. Now all this sounds 
 very fine, and seems systematic enough. It 
 has but one objection — it is quite untrue. It 
 is more than doubtful if the Herring frequents 
 the Polar seas at all ; the most distinguished 
 naturalists are of opinion that it never leaves the 
 neighbourhood of our own coasts, but merely 
 retires to the deep water after it has spawned, 
 and there remains till the return of another 
 season causes it again to revisit the shores for 
 a similar purpose. So you see, Frank, it does 
 not follow that an interesting account of an 
 animal's habits is necessarily a true one." 
 
 " Oh no, Uncle Thomas ! I never imagined 
 that." 
 
 " Very well. Boys — Good night l"
 
 169 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT THE BABOONS, AND THEIR PLUNDERING 
 EXCURSIONS TO THE GARDENS AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE; ALSO ABOUT 
 LE VAILLANt'S BABOON KEES, AND HIS PECULIARITIES J AND RE- 
 LATES AN AMUSING STORY ABOUT A YOUNG MONKEY, DEPRIVED OF 
 ITS MOTHER, PUTTING ITSELV UNDER THE FOSTERING CARE OF A 
 WIG-BLOCK ! 
 
 " Oh, Uncle Thomas, we saw such a strange 
 looking creature to-day. It seemed to be a 
 very large Monkey ; it was as big as a boy." 
 
 " I heard of it, Boys, though I did not see 
 it. It was a Baboon, and one of the largest 
 of the species. — It was what is called the Dog- 
 faced Baboon." 
 
 " Where do such animals come from, Uncle 
 Thomas^" 
 
 " From Africa, John, and I believe they are 
 not to be found elsewhere. They are very 
 fierce and mischievous creatures, and are said
 
 170 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 sometimes even to attack man, but this I 
 believe to be an exaggeration. Immense troops 
 of them inhabit the mountains in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, whence 
 they descend in bands to plunder the gardens 
 and orchards. In these excursions they move 
 on a concerted plan, placing sentinels on com- 
 manding spots to give notice of the approach 
 of an enemy. On the appearance of danger, 
 the sentinel utters a loud yell, upon which the 
 whole troop retreats with the utmost preci- 
 pitation." 
 
 " Do they carry their spoil with them when 
 they are thus scared. Uncle Thomas'?" 
 
 " When disturbed, John, they are said to 
 break in pieces the fruit which they have ga- 
 thered, and cram it into their cheek pouches — 
 receptacles with which nature has furnished 
 them for keeping articles of food till they are 
 wanted. 
 
 " A celebrated traveller in Africa, named 
 Le Vaillant, had a Dog-faced Baboon which
 
 HABITS OF THE BABOON. 171 
 
 accompanied him on his journey, and he found 
 its Instincts of great service to him in various 
 ways. As a sentinel he was better than any of 
 the Dogs. So quick was his sense of danger, 
 that he often gave notice of the approach of 
 beasts of prey, when every thing else seemed 
 sunk in security. He was also very useful in 
 guarding the people of the expedition from 
 danger, from using unwholesome or poisonous 
 fruits. The animal's name was Kees. Here is 
 the very interesting account which his master 
 gives of him, which I will read to you : — 
 
 " Whenever we found fruits or roots, with 
 which my Hottentots were unacquainted, we 
 did not touch them till Kees had tasted them. 
 If he threw them away, we concluded that 
 they were either of a disagreeable flavour, or 
 of a pernicious quality, and left them untasted. 
 The Ape possesses a peculiar property, wherein 
 he differs greatly from other animals, and re- 
 sembles man, — namely, that he is by nature 
 equally gluttonous and inquisitive. Without
 
 172 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 necessity, and without appetite, he tastes every 
 thing that falls in his way, or that is given to 
 him. But Kees had a still more valuable 
 quality, — he was an excellent sentinel; for 
 whether by day or night he immediately sprang 
 up on the slightest appearance of danger. By 
 his cry, and the symptoms of fear which he 
 exhibited, we were always apprized of the ap- 
 proach of an enemy, even though the Dogs 
 perceived nothing of it. The latter at length 
 learned to rely upon him with such confidence, 
 that they slept on in perfect tranquillity. I 
 often took Kees with me when I went a hunting; 
 and when he saw me preparing for sport, he 
 exhibited the most lively demonstrations of 
 joy. On the way he would climb into the 
 trees to look for gum, of which he was very 
 fond. Sometimes he discovered to me honey, 
 deposited in the clefts of rocks, or hollow trees. 
 But if he happened to have met with neither 
 honey nor gum, and his appetite had become 
 sharp by his running about, I always witnessed
 
 HABITS OF THE BABOON. 173 
 
 a very ludicrous scene. In those cases, he 
 looked for roots, which he ate with great 
 greediness, especially a particular kind, which, 
 to his cost, I also found to be very well 
 tasted and refreshing, and therefore insisted 
 upon sharing with him. But Kees was no 
 fool. As soon as he found such a root, and 
 I was not near enough to seize upon my share 
 of it, he devoured it in the greatest haste, 
 keeping his eyes all the while riveted on me. 
 He accurately measured the distance I had to 
 pass before I could get to him ; and I was sure 
 of coming too late. Sometimes, however, when 
 he had made a mistake in his calculation, and 
 I came upon him sooner than he expected, he 
 endeavoured to hide the root, in which case 
 I compelled him, by a box on the ear, to give 
 me up my share. But this treatment caused 
 no malice between us; we remained as good 
 friends as ever. In order to draw these roots 
 out of the ground, he employed a very ingeni- 
 ous method, which afforded me much amuse-
 
 174 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 ment. He laid hold of the herbage with his 
 teeth stemmed his fore feet against the ground, 
 and drew back his head, which gradually pulled 
 out the root. But if this expedient, for which 
 he employed his whole strength, did not suc- 
 ceed, he laid hold of the leaves as before, as 
 close to the ground as possible, and then threw 
 himself heels over head, which gave such a 
 concussion to the root, that it never failed to 
 come out. 
 
 " When Kees happened to tire on the road, 
 he mounted upon the back of one of my Dogs, 
 who was so obliging as to carry him whole 
 hours. One of them, however, which was 
 larger and stronger than the rest hit upon a 
 very ingenious artifice to avoid being pressed 
 into this piece of service. As soon as Kees 
 leaped upon his back he stood still, and let the 
 train pass without moving from the spot. Kees 
 still persisted in his intention, till we were 
 almost out of his sight, when he found himself 
 at length compelled to dismount, upon which
 
 HABITS OF THE BABOON. 175 
 
 both the Baboon and Dog exerted all their speed 
 to overtake us. The latter, however, gave him 
 the start and kept a good look-out after him, 
 that he might not serve him in the same manner 
 again. In fact, Kees enjoyed a certain autho- 
 rity with all my Dogs, for which he perhaps was 
 indebted to the superiority of his Instinct. He 
 could not endure a competitor; if any of the 
 Dogs came too near him when he was eating, 
 he gave them a box on the ear, which com- 
 pelled him immediately to retire to a respectful 
 distance. 
 
 " Serpents excepted, there were no animals 
 of whom Kees stood in such great dread as 
 of his own species, — perhaps owing to a con- 
 sciousness, that he had lost a portion of his 
 natural capacities. Sometimes he heard the 
 cry of the other Apes among the mountains, 
 and, terrified as he was, he yet answered them. 
 But if they approached nearer, and he saw any 
 of them, he fled, with a hideous cry, crept 
 between our legs, and trembled all over. It
 
 176 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 was very difficult to compose him, and it 
 was some time before he recovered from his 
 fright. 
 
 " Like other domestic animals, Kees was 
 addicted to stealing. He understood admirably 
 well how to loose the strings of a basket, in 
 order to take victuails out of it, especially milk, 
 of which he was very fond. My people 
 chastised him for these thefts ; but that did not 
 make him amend his conduct. I myself some- 
 times whipped him; but then he ran away, 
 and did not return again to the tent, until it 
 grew dark. Once as I was about to dine, and 
 had put the beans, which I had boiled for 
 myself upon a plate, I heard the voice of a 
 bird, with which I was not acquainted. I left 
 my dinner standing, seized my gun, and run 
 out of my tent. In about a quarter of an hour, 
 I returned, with the bird in my hand ; but to 
 my astonishment, found not a single bean upon 
 the plate. Kees had stolen them all, and taken 
 himself out of the way. When he had com-
 
 HABITS OF THE BABOON. 177 
 
 mitted any trespass of this kind, he used always 
 about the time when I drank tea to return 
 quietly, and seat himself in his usual place, 
 with every appearance of innocence, as if 
 nothing had happened; but this evening he 
 did not show himself; and on the following 
 day, also, he was not seen by any of us ; and, 
 in consequence, I began to grow seriously un- 
 easy about him, and apprehensive that he 
 might be lost for ever, but on the third day, 
 one of my people, who had been to fetch water, 
 informed me that he had seen Kees in the neigh- 
 bourhood, but that as soon as the animal espied 
 him, he had concealed himself again. I im- 
 mediately went out and beat the whole neigh- 
 bourhood with my Dogs. All at once I heard 
 a cry like that which Kees used to make when 
 I returned from shooting, and had not taken 
 him with me. I looked about and at length 
 espied him, endeavouring to hide himself be- 
 hind the large branches of a tree. I now 
 called to him in a friendly tone of voice, and 
 N
 
 178 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 made motions to him to come down to me; 
 but he could not trust me, and I was obliged 
 to climb up the tree to fetch him. He did not 
 attempt to escape, and we returned together to 
 my quarters ; here he expected to receive his 
 punishment ; but I did nothing, as it would have 
 been of no use. 
 
 " When, exhausted with the heat of the sun, 
 and the fatigues of the day, with my throat and 
 mouth covered with dust and perspiration, I 
 was ready to sink gasping to the ground, in tracts 
 destitute of shade, and longed even for the 
 dirtiest ditch water; but after seeking long in 
 vain, lost all hope of finding any in the parched 
 soil; in such distressing moments my faithful 
 Kees never moved from my side. We sometimes 
 got out of our carriage, and then his sure Instinct 
 led him to a plant. Frequently the stalk was 
 fallen off, and then all his endeavours to pull it 
 out were in vain. In such cases, he began to 
 scratch in the earth with his paws ; but as that 
 would also have proved ineffectual, I came to
 
 HABITS OF THE BABOON. 179 
 
 his assistance with my dagger or my knife, and 
 we honestly divided the refreshing root with each 
 other. 
 
 " An officer, wishing one day to put the 
 fidelity of my Baboon Kees, to the test, pre- 
 tended to strike me. At this Kees flew in a 
 violent rage, and, from that time, he could never 
 endure the sight of the officer. If he only saw 
 him at a distance, he began to cry and make all 
 kinds of grimaces, which evidently showed that 
 he wished to revenge the insult that had been 
 done to me ; he ground his teeth, and en- 
 deavoured, with all his might, to fly at his 
 face, but that was out of his power, as he 
 was chained down. The offender several 
 times endeavoured, in vain, to conciliate him, by 
 offering him dainties, but he remained long 
 implacable. 
 
 " When any eatables had been pilfered at my 
 quarters, the fault was always laid first upon 
 Kees ; and rarely was the accusation unfounded. 
 For a time the eggs which a Hen laid me were 
 
 N 2
 
 180 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 constantly stolen, and I wished to ascertain 
 whether I had to attribute this loss also to him. 
 For this purpose, I went one morning to watch 
 him, and waited till the Hen announced by her 
 cackling that she had laid an egg. Kees was 
 sitting upon my carriage; but the moment he 
 heard the Hen's voice he leapt down, and was 
 running to fetch the egg. When he saw me he 
 suddenly stopped, and atfected a careless posture, 
 swaying himself backwards upon his hind legs, 
 and assuming a very innocent look; in short, he 
 employed all his art to deceive me with respect 
 to his design. His hypocritical manoeuvres only 
 confirmed my suspicions, and, in order in my 
 turn to deceive him, I pretended not to attend 
 to him, and turned my back to the bush where 
 the Hen was cackling, upon which he imme- 
 diately sprang to the place. I ran after him, 
 and came up to him at the moment when he 
 had broken the egg, and was swallowing it. 
 Having caught the thief in the fact, I gave him 
 a good beating upon the spot ; but this severe
 
 X .',/('i^;jK:V^i ', 
 
 
 " A contest now took place between tlicm who should 
 have the egg."
 
 HABITS OF THE BABOON. 181 
 
 chastisement did not prevent his soon stealing 
 fresh-laid eggs again. As I was convinced that 
 I should never be able to break Kees of his 
 natural vices, and that, unless I chained him up 
 every morning, I should never get an egg, I en- 
 deavoured to accomplish my purpose in another 
 manner : I trained one of my Dogs, as soon as 
 the Hen cackled, to run to the nest, and bring 
 me the egg without breaking it. In a few days 
 the Dog had learned his lesson ; but Kees, as 
 soon as he heard the Hen cackle, ran with him 
 to the nest. A contest now took place between 
 them, who should have the egg ; often the Dog 
 was foiled, although he was the stronger of the 
 two. If he gained the victory, he ran joyfully 
 to me with the egg, and put it into my hand. 
 Kees, nevertheless, followed him, and did not 
 cease to grumble and make threatening grimaces 
 at him, till he saw me take the egg, — as if 
 he was comforted for the loss of his booty by 
 his adversary's not retaining it for himself. If 
 Kees had got hold of the egg, he endeavoured
 
 182 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 to run with it to a tree, where, ha\dng devoured 
 it, he threw down the shells upon his adversary, 
 as if to make game of him. In that case, the 
 Dog returned, looking ashamed, from which I 
 could conjecture the unlucky adventure he had 
 met with. 
 
 " Kees was always the first awake in the 
 morning, and, w^hen it was the proper time 
 he awoke the Dogs, who were accustomed to his 
 voice, and, in general, obeyed without hesitation 
 the slightest motions by which he communicated 
 his orders to them, immediately taking their posts 
 about the tent and carnage, as he directed 
 them." 
 
 " What a delightful companion Kees must 
 have been. Uncle Thomas ! " 
 
 " He must at least have been an amusing as 
 w^ell as a usefal one, Frank. There are, how- 
 ever, great variations in this respect among the 
 Monkeys; some of them are most lively creatures, 
 seldom sitting still for a couple of minutes, while 
 others are retired and gloomy in their dispo-
 
 HABITS OF THE MONKEY. 183 
 
 sitions, and some are most fickle and uncertain. 
 The Fair Monkey, though one of the most beau- 
 tiful of the tribe is of the latter description, as 
 the following story will testify : — 
 
 " An animal of this class, which from its 
 extreme beauty and gentleness was allowed to 
 ramble at liberty about a ship, soon became a 
 great favourite among the crew, and in order to 
 make him perfectly happy, as they imagined, 
 they procured him a wife. For some weeks he 
 was a devoted husband, and showed his wife 
 every attention and respect. Bye and bye how- 
 ever, he grew cool, and became jealous of any 
 kind of civility shown her by the master of the 
 vessel, and began to use her with much cruelty. 
 His treatment made her wretched and dull ; and 
 she bore the spleen of her husband with that 
 fortitude which is characteristic of the female 
 sex of the human species. And pug, like the 
 lords of the creation, was up to deceit, and prac- 
 tised pretended kindness to his spouse, to effect 
 a diabolical scheme, which he seemed to prenie-
 
 184 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 ditate. One morning, when the sea ran very- 
 high, he seduced her aloft, and drew her atten- 
 tion to an object at some distance from the 
 yard-arm ; her attention being fixed, he all of a 
 sudden applied his paw to her rear, and tumbled 
 her into the sea, where she fell a victim to his 
 cruelty. This feat seemed to afford him high 
 gratification, for he descended in great spirits." 
 
 " Oh, what a wretched creature, Uncle 
 Thomas ! I wonder the sailors did not throw 
 him into the sea also." 
 
 " Stay, Frank, you are somewhat too hasty. 
 He deserved certainly to be punished ; but I 
 doubt whether it would have been proper to have 
 dealt so summarily with him for his misdeed. 
 All Monkeys are not, however, equally cruel ; 
 some of them, indeed, are remarkable for the 
 instinctive kindness which they evince towards 
 their young. When threatened by danger, they 
 mount them on their back, or clasp them firmly 
 to their breast, to which the young creatures 
 secure themselves, by means of their long and
 
 HABITS OF THE MONKEY. 185 
 
 powerful arms, so as to allow of their parent 
 moving about, and springing from branch to 
 branch, with nearly as much facility as if she 
 were perfectly free from incumbrance." 
 
 " Oh, I can readily believe that, Uncle 
 Thomas. One day lately, at the Zoological Gar- 
 dens, I saw two Monkeys clasping a young one 
 between them, to keep it warm. They seemed 
 so fond of it!" 
 
 " Yes, Frank, I have also seen them occupied 
 in the same way. I was quite delighted at such 
 an unexpected exhibition of tenderness. 
 
 " Some of the Monkeys which are natives of 
 the American continent have the singular cha- 
 racteristic of prehensile tails ; that is, of laying 
 hold of branches of trees with their tails, with 
 nearly as much ease and security as they can 
 with their hands. The facilities which this 
 affords them for moving about with celerity 
 among the branches is astonishing. If it makes 
 a single coil round a branch, it is quite suffi- 
 cient, not only to support the weight of the ani-
 
 186 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 mal, but to enable it to swing in such a manner 
 as to gain a fresh hold with its feet." 
 
 " That is very curious, Uncle Thomas. Is 
 there any other animal which has this singular 
 power *?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, Frank, several of the Lizards have 
 the power, as well as some other animals, — the 
 little Harvest Mouse, for instance ; but none of 
 them are possessed of it in so high a degree as 
 the American Monkeys. 
 
 " I have now. Boys, pretty well exhausted 
 my stories about the Monkey tribe. I recollect 
 only one more at present, and it occurred to the 
 same traveller to whom Kees belonged. 
 
 " In one of his excursions he happened to 
 kill a female Monkey, which carried a young 
 one on her back. The little creature, as if in- 
 sensible of its mother's death, continued to cling 
 to the dead body till the party reached their 
 evening quarters; and even then it required 
 considerable force to disengage it. No sooner, 
 however, did it feel itself alone, than it darted
 
 HABITS OF THE MONKEY. 187 
 
 towards a wooden block, on which was placed 
 the wig of Le Vaillant's father, mistaking it for 
 its dead mother. To this it clung most perti- 
 naciously by its fore paws ; and such was the 
 force of this deceptive feeling, that it remained 
 in the same position for about three weeks, all 
 this time evidently mistaking the wig for its 
 mother ! It was fed, from time to time, with 
 Goat's milk ; and, at length, emancipated itself 
 voluntarily, by quitting the fostering care of the 
 peruke. The confidence which it ere long 
 assumed, and the amusing familiarity of its 
 manners, soon rendered it a favourite. The 
 unsuspecting naturalist, however, soon found 
 that he introduced a wolf in sheep's clothing 
 into his dwelling : for, one morning, on entering 
 his chamber, the door of which had been im- 
 prudently left open, he beheld his young fa- 
 vourite making a hearty breakfast on a very 
 noble collection of insects. In the first trans- 
 ports of his anger, he resolved to strangle the 
 Monkey in his arms : but his rage immediately
 
 188 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 gave way to pity, when he perceived that the 
 crime of its voracity had carried the punishment 
 along with it. In eating the beetles, it had 
 swallowed several of the pins on which they 
 were transfixed. Its agony, consequently, be- 
 came great : and all his efforts were unable to 
 preserve its life." 
 
 " Poor creature ! How unfortunate. Uncle 
 Thomas. It must, however, have been a very 
 stupid animal to mistake a wig for its mother." 
 
 " Very much so indeed. Boys! — It is now, 
 however, our hour for parting." 
 
 " Good night. Uncle Thomas."
 
 189 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 t/NCLB THOMAS CONCLUDES STORIKS ABOUT INSTINCT WITH SEVERAL INTER- 
 ESTING ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AFFECTIONS OF ANIMALS, PARTICULARLY OF 
 THE INSTINCT OF MATERNAL AFFECTION ; AND POINTS OUT THE BENEFICENT 
 CARE OF PROVIDENCE IN IMPLANTING IN THE BREASTS OF EACH OF HIS 
 CREATURES THE INSTINCTS WHICH ARE NECESSARY FOR ITS PROTECTION 
 AND PRESERVATION. 
 
 " Good evening, Uncle Thomas ! We were so 
 delighted with the adventures of Kees, the Mon- 
 key, that we wish to know if you have any 
 more such amusing stories to tell us." 
 
 " Oh yes, Boys, plenty, but it is now time 
 to bring these Stories about Instinct to a 
 close. I am, therefore, going to conclude by 
 narrating one or two stories about the affections 
 of animals. I wish to impress your minds with 
 feelings of kindness towards them, and I think 
 that the best way to do so is to exhibit them to 
 you in their gentleness and love ; to show you
 
 190 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 that they too partake of the kindlier emotions 
 by which the heart of man is moved, and that 
 the feelings of maternal affection, and of friend- 
 ship, and of fidelity, are as much the preroga- 
 tives of the lower animals as they are of man 
 himself. Perhaps one of the most amiable 
 lights in which the affections of animals are ex- 
 hibited to us is their love and attachment to 
 their offspring. You have all seen how regard- 
 less of danger a domestic Hen, one of the most 
 timid and defenceless of animals, becomes when 
 she has charge of a brood of chickens. At 
 other times she is alarmed by the slightest 
 noise — the sudden rustle of a leaf makes her 
 shrink with fear and apprehension. Yet, no 
 sooner do her Httle helpless offspring escape 
 from the shell than she becomes armed with a 
 determination of which even birds of prey stand 
 in awe." 
 
 " Oh, yes, Uncle Thomas, I have often seen 
 a Hen attack a large Dog and drive it away from 
 her chickens."
 
 MATERNAL AFFECTION. 191 
 
 " It marks the wisdom of the omnipotent and 
 all-wise Creator, Boys, that he has implanted in 
 the hearts of each of his creatures the particular 
 instincts which were necessary for their safety 
 and protection. Thus, in the case I have just 
 spoken of, the instinctive courage with which 
 the mother is endowed, you will find to be the 
 best security which could have been devised for 
 this purpose. In some other birds this instinct 
 exhibits itself in a different way. If you happen 
 to approach the nest of the Lapwing, for instance, 
 the old birds try every means to attract your 
 attention, and to lure you away from the sacred 
 spot. They will fly close by you, and in an ir- 
 regular manner, as if wounded ; but no sooner 
 do they find that their stratagem has been suc- 
 cessful, and that you have passed the nest un- 
 observed, than they at once take a longer flight, 
 and soon leave you behmd." 
 
 " How very singular, Uncle Thomas ! Does 
 the Lapwing defend its young with as much 
 courage as the Hen V
 
 190 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 " I am not aware that it does, Frank, though 
 I think it is not very likely. As its Instinct 
 teaches it to finesse in the way which I have 
 told you, I should not expect to find that it does 
 so with equal spirit. Even the Pigeon, the very 
 emblem of gentleness and love, boldly pecks at 
 the rude hand which is extended towards its 
 young, during the earlier stages of their exist- 
 ence. If you come by chance on the brood of 
 a Partridge, the mother flutters along, as if she 
 was so much wounded that it was impossible to 
 escape, and the young ones squat themselves 
 close by the earth. When by her cunning 
 wiles she has led you to a little distance, and 
 you discover that her illness was feigned, you 
 return to the spot to seek for the young, and you 
 find that they too are gone: no sooner is your 
 back turned than they run and hide themselves 
 in some more secret place, where they remain 
 till the well-known call of the mother again 
 collects them under her wing. 
 
 '' I lately heard a most interesting story of
 
 MATERNAL AFFECTION. 193 
 
 the boldness of a pair of Blackbirds in defence 
 of their young. A Cat was one day observed 
 mounted on the top of a railing, endeavouring 
 to get at a nest which was near it, containing a 
 brood of young birds. On the Cat's approach 
 the mother left the nest, and flew to meet it in a 
 state of great alarm, placing herself almost 
 within its reach, and uttering the most piteous 
 screams of wildness and despair. Alarmed by 
 his partner's cries the male bird soon discovered 
 the cause of her distress, and in a state of equal 
 trepidation flew to the place, uttering loud and 
 piercing screams, sometimes settling on the 
 fence just before the Cat, which was unable to 
 make a spring in consequence of the narrowness 
 of its footing. After a little time, seeing that 
 their distress made no impression on their as- 
 sailant, the male bird flew at the Cat, settled on 
 its back, and pecked at its head with so much 
 violence that it fell to the ground, followed by 
 the Blackbird, which at length succeeded in 
 driving it away. Foiled in this attempt, the 
 
 o
 
 194 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 Cat, a short time after, again returned to the 
 charge, and was a second time vanquished, 
 which so intimidated her, that she rehnquished 
 all attempts to get at the young birds. For 
 several days, whenever she made her appear- 
 ance in the garden, she was set upon by the 
 Blackbirds, and at length became so much 
 afraid of them, that she scampered to a place of 
 security whenever she saw them approach." 
 
 " That was very bold indeed. Uncle Thomas. 
 Birds seem to be all very much attached to 
 their young." 
 
 " Very much so, Harry ; but perhaps not 
 more so than many quadrupeds. Here is a 
 story of the Squirrel's affection, which, though 
 it does not exhibit an instance of active defence 
 against its enemies, affords one of endurance 
 equally admirable. 
 
 " In cutting down some trees on the estate 
 at Petersham, recently purchased by the crown, 
 for the pui-pose of being annexed to Richmond 
 park, the axe was applied to the root of a tall
 
 MATERNAL AFFECTION. 195 
 
 tree, on the top of which was a Squirrel's nest. 
 A rope was fastened to the tree for the purpose 
 of pulling it down more expeditiously; the 
 workmen cut at the roots ; the rope was pulled ; 
 the tree swayed backwards and forwards, and at 
 length fell. During all these operations a female 
 Squirrel never attempted to desert her new-born 
 young, but remained with them in the nest. 
 When the tree fell down, she was thrown out 
 and secured unhurt, and was put into a cage 
 with her young ones. She suckled them for a 
 short time, but refused to eat. Her maternal 
 affection, however, remained till the last moment 
 of her life, and she died in the act of affording all 
 the nourishment in her power to her offspring. 
 
 " We are too apt. Boys, to overlook the 
 admirable lessons which such stories as these 
 inculcate. They should teach us kindness to 
 each other — ^kindness, not only to those of our 
 own species, but kindness to all creatures. If 
 the lower animals love each other so warmly and 
 affectionately, how much more ought man, to
 
 196 STORIES ABOUT INSTINCT. 
 
 whom the Creator has been so beneficent, to 
 love his fellow creatures. But though the affec- 
 tion of animals to their offspring is an admirable 
 mode of its development, it is far from being 
 the only one. Here is an instance of attachment 
 in Horses which was so strong as to terminate 
 fatally. 
 
 " During the Peninsular war two Horses, 
 which had long been associated together, as- 
 sisting to drag the same piece of artillery, and 
 standing together the shock of many battles, 
 became so much attached to each other as to be 
 inseparable companions. At length one of them 
 was killed. After the battle in which this took 
 place, the other was picquetted as usual, and his 
 food brought to him. He refused, however, to 
 eat, and kept constantly turning round his head 
 to look for his companion, sometimes neighing 
 as if to call her. All the attention which was 
 bestowed upon him was of no avail ; though 
 surrounded by other Horses he took no notice of 
 them, but incessantly bewailed his absent friend.
 
 CONCLUSION. 197 
 
 He died shortly after, having refused to taste 
 food from the time his former companion was 
 killed! 
 
 " Such is but one solitary instance. But there 
 are many such scattered up and down in the 
 ample records of nature, bearing silent but em- 
 phatic testimony to the kindness and beneficence 
 of the Creator. 
 
 ** Not a tree, 
 A plant, a leaf, a blossom, but contains 
 A folio volume : we may read, and read, 
 And read again, but still find something new — 
 Something to please, and something to instruct^ 
 E'en in the noisome weed." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Clarke, Printers, Silver Street, Falcon Square.
 
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