The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1839-06-01
THE INTELLIGENCE OF ANIMALS.

THE INTELLIGENCE OF ANIMALS.
In the forests of Tartary and South A.
merica where the wild horse is gregarous,
there are herds Of five or six hundred,
which being ill-prepared for fighting, OF in
deed for any resistance, and knowing, that
their safety is in flight, when they sleep,
appoint one in rotation who acts as sentinel
while the rest are asleep. If man approach
es, the sentinel walks towards him as if to
reconnoiter, or see whether he can be de.
tered from coming near; if the man contin-
ues, he neighs aloud and in a peculiar tone
which rouses the herd, all gallop away, the
sentinel bringing up the rear. Nothing
can be more judicious or rational than this
arrangement, simple as il is. So horse
belonging to smuggler at Dover used 10
be iaded with run spirits, and sent, on the
road, unattended, to reach the rendezvous.
When he deserted soldier, he would Jump
off the highway, and hide himself in
ditch, and, when discovered, would fight
for his load. The cunning of foxes is pro.
verbal; but know not if it was ever more
remarkably displayed than IN the Duke
OF Beauiorts country, where reynard, be-
ing hard pressed, disappeared suddenly,
and was after strict search, found i'm
merseedi in water pool up to the very
snout by which he held wilow-bough
hanging over the pond. The cunning of
dog, which Sergeant Wilde tells me Of, as
known TO him, is at least equal. He used
TO be tied up, as precaution against hunt
ing sheep. Al night he slipped his head out
OF the collar, and returning before dawn
put on the collar again, in order to conceal
his nocturnal excursions. Nobody was
more lamlliary with various animals (be-
sides his great knowledge of his own spe-
cies) than my excellent, learned and inge-
nlous friend, the Sergeant; and he possess
ses many curious ones himself. His anec-
dote of drover's dog is striking, as he
gave 1t to me, when we happened near this
place, to meet a drove. The man had
brought seventeen out of twenty oxen from
a field, leaving the remaining three there
mixed with another herd. He then said to |
the dog, $50 fetch them;' and he went
and singled out those very three. The
Sergeants brother, however, highly re-
spectacle man lately Sheriff of London,
has dog that distinguishes Saturday night, |
from the practice Of tying him up for the |
Sunday, which he dislikes. He will es-
cape OIL Saturday night, and return on Mon. |
day morning. The Sergeant himself has
gander, which was at "a distance from the |
goose, and, hearing her make an extraordi-
nary noise, ran back and put his head into
the cage, then brought back the goslins one
by one, and put them into it with the moth |
er, whose separation from her brood had |
occasioned her clamor. He then returned |
to the place whence her cries had called |
him. A swallow had slipped its foot into
the moose of cord attached to spout IN
the College des Quatre Nations at Paris, |
and by endeavoring to escape, had drawn
the knot tight. Itslrength being exhausted
in vain attempts to fly; it uttered piteous
cries; which assembled vast flock of 9TH
er swallows from large basin between the
Tuileries and Point Neuf. They seemed
to crowd and consult together for a little
while and then one of them darted at the |
string, and struck at it with his beak as he |
few past; and others following in quick |
succession did the same part, till, after con- |
tinuing this combined operation for half an !
hour, they succeeded in severing the cord,
and freeing their companion. They all !
continued flocking ndhovering till night;
only instead of the tumut and agitation in |
which they had been at their first assem-
bling, they were chattering as if without
any anxiety at all. but conscious Of having
ucceeded.-Lord BrOughaa's DiS8ertq-
t,ons on Science.