Intelligence in Animals.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 14 February 1911, Page 3

Intelligence in Animals.

Lovers of animals (says tlio Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph) will read with pleasure some ■of the anecdotes of animal intelligence which a writer in the Petit Journal has just published. Tn order to obtain some very curious and original facts, ho appealed to the readers of that paper to give him an account of all the strange instances of animal intelligence or cleverness with which they were acquainted. He received numerous replies and. his general inference is like that of many other experts on the .subject—that a certain number of persons, a very small one, it is true, have a peculiar gift of understanding. or making themselves understood by. the animal world. The first instan •(• he gives is that of a swallow kepi as a pot by a lady in Grenoble. Swallows, he says, are the most difficult birds to tame. He tried time and again—taking good care, of course, mt to keep them in a cage—to rear some of those birds of passage, but they invariablv pined away and died. The fact that, the lady at Grenoble i.ad 'been able bo keep and actually to tame one of Ihrse birds "is a. proof that she mn>-{ have a special gift She says in her letter:

"1 hare been keeping at my ' 'use. for eight weeks a swallow which hvd been hurt. It was ; 't in a wire on the roof, and T asl-rrd a p'uinbor to climb up and deliver the co* thing. He went about it too ro, ly. and in pulling Ihe bird awav he broke ils wiirr. I Icept tho

SWALLOW T\ THE HOUSE giving it full libert-v, for a swallow w'H not live in a cage. 1 fed: it -in tiny hits of calf's liver, which I "iv* it on a little ivory stick. The b"'d did not want io leave nm any moie. Tt followed me everyvhere atioii the lion-P 1 . unt'l T took it up and put it on nty sV-v'der. 1 .-d«o !i:i'o a eat. whi'-h rVvin** Ike first few days van after !hc .--wallow. But T had forbidden her to toir-h it. She ended bv understand]""'!:. for sh'* the swallow moving about the hous> "-ifhout stirnig. Eow ever. T did not trust her ) much, and when i had t-o go out T shut pussy u]i in the kitchen and the swallow in the dining-room. One day, when T had not shut one «• F the doors well. T found, it open on my return. T was frightr?!i«cl for iry .Mvallow. T entered the licing-iM-m a.nd what did f see but the cat and tho swallow Iving snu; : 'y tocoth - .

like groat frieiv's. on a dressing gown that had failen on the '! -or.

The lady, adds the writer, seems in this cave to harp exercised' a sort of charm over her two pets. Most of the other stories relate to the marvellous intelligc'r-e of dogs. One of these is contributed by a mar. ket woman of Paris, She has a dog who has 'been trained ti go to the "butcher for his own moil: every day. She wraps a penny in a of paper, and the dog at once knows what it is for. He gors to the 'butcher, gets his moat, and returns to her to have it- cooked. One diav, however, a curious tiling happened. The piece of meat he got was perhaps too smaU or the dog had a better appetite than us:: il and wanted more.. He forthwith crumped up a bi't of paper in his mouth, and walked to the butcher a *.rvond time. The

BUTCHER WAS EHITOUS at _ first when he found no penny inside the paper. But it was not the fault of the dog, v. Hi did not know that the penny was more essential than the paper. However, ho got such a scolding that he has not repeated the trick since.

Among the many d>.: r stories reported by the correspondents, there is a very touching one of two dogs kopt by the same master, near Nevers. One of these dogs happened to 'he wounded in the woods "by a shot, and was unable to move. He was lost sight of for some days, but was discovered finally in an extraordinary manner. It was noticed that the other dog stole some food every day, and ran off with it to the woods. lie was followed, and then it was seen that the animal had been in the habit of carrying the food to its wounded companion, and thus .saved it from starving. This dog surely deserves a medal.

A peculiar instance of the, ATTACHMENT OF CANARIES

to certain persons has come under my own notice. An American lady who was very ill, and almost bedridden for a long time, was surprised one clay to .see a canary fly into her room. The bird was slightly in.jnred, and seemed glad to find a home. _ Before many, days had pnssod itberamo a perfect friend-to the invalid lady, would perch on the bed or the armchair »to keep her company or eat out of her hand and wipe its hill on her finger. After some time a mate was purchased for the bird, and now it has 32 descendants, all of v,'bom are as tame and as attached to the invalid lady as'the original bird. They come out of tlicir cage wlien tho c?oor is orpQn, fly over to. her at the slightest beck or call, and all know tlheir names, so that if only on© of them is called, that ono t only will hop out and fly over to its mistress.