Illustrations of Instinct Deduced from the Habits of British Animals

a different estimate of the animal creation; and while other students of Nature are directing their inquiries to the elucidation of their anatomical structure and the relation of their affinities, the Author's wish is to point out the path by which a better knowledge may be acquired of the conditions of their intellectual existence; the links of the chain that connects insensible with intelligent Being; and the variation which the latter is capable of, when subjected to the influence of disturbing or exciting causes.

Fortified also by the authority of some eminent observers, he has ventured to believe, in the words of Milton, that

They reason not contemptibly;

and that if a higher degree of training were founded on a close study of their individual faculties, the result would be of importance to human interests.

In extending this inquiry into the intellectual dispositions of animals to some of its more minute particulars, preference has been given to examples derived from the creatures of our own country: because these are best known to an ordinary inquirer; and because it is the Author's desire to call into this field of examination a greater number of men capable of useful observations, if their attention were once directed to the pursuit.

Many curious habits remain undescribed, to reward the industry and patience of an observer who will study them abroad in the fields and woods; and the arts by which the wild animals of Britain still maintain their standing among us, in spite of the exterminating endeavours of their great enemy, and amidst so many other opposing influences, form perhaps the most interesting portion of their history.

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