Polynesian., 1857-02-14
Ole polpuesiau.
REASON AND INSTINCT OF ANIMALS.
BY THE HON. GRANTLEr BERKELEY.

fetid carriOn by the roadside, till the refuse mat
ter with which he is externally and internally la
den taints the surrounding air, and is perceplible
to man that the nose of man is disguised. In this
fptid state the hound will hunt out and trace at
speed the footstep or scent of hare but which
hare, even if the man goes 10 the form she has
been sleeping in and has just left warm from
the pressure OF her limbs, cannot in the remotest
degree be smelt by him. Scent, therefore, is
not merely smell if it it must be inter
fered with by scents of different nature and of
infinitely greater power. What the fact is, then,
that serves the hound must be mystery, and the
capability of tracing it evidently arises from
the more peculiar gifts than are generally sup
posed.
Now, suppose we take an otter recently killed
man can discover very little if any smell arising
from the beautiful fur and form of that creature
while if you take fox that is recently killed the
smell Of that animal is very strong, much so
that the hand Of man will be tainted by its mere
touch; yet to the hound the scent of the Ito man
apparently scentless animal, the OTTER is tenfold
stronger and more capable of detection than is the
smell of the absolutely sinking animal, the fox
therefore, the line left by creatures, enabling the
! hound in some weathcrs to follow it at the top of
his speed, must be gift of nature more myster-
Gus than the simple act of smelling. 1t undoubt-
edy is power imbibed through the organs of the
nose, but to what that power extends at present we
| have no means Of Judging.
| \ question has often arisen in my mind cs TO
whether the scent, line of trace, left by an ami
NAL arises from the breath simply from the foot,
or whether it comes from sources OF combination.
The breath Of an animal enables hound to hunt
| and speak To Its presence TO its whereabout, as
proved by the bubbles or chain of the otter arising
when the animal is ten feet and upwards below the
surface Of the water.
The foot or slot OF a deer holds scent in ITSELF
as proved by the bloodhound Druid. When on
very stale 'slots' he slightly disurbs the crust of
the impression purposely with his paw, to assist
him in ascertainlng It's freshness. The breath and
the foot of an animal combined have certainly,
therefore, to do with the power derived by the
hound but in my opinion there is some other ad-
junct and occult principle which has not yet been
Iascertaned. This fact is Established, that the
strongest smelling animals, those emitting tants to
the air quite evident 10 man, are not the animals
the strongest sweetest in the olfactory organs
of the hound. That the scent floats on the air is
proved by pointers and settlers winding felthered
game at long distance, and when the wind serves
him by DmId's going straight up to a deer at
gallop, who is lying in a lair mile off; also BY
foxhounds running a fox, or by hounds running a
deer, shut out from their sight by thick hedge
row, and from whose footsteps they are absolutely
divided The organ of detection through the OIL
factory nerves enables a dog 10 trace his master
among million men; therefore there must be
some other attribute than the simple act of smell
ing, for though there are different degrees of SMELLS
and to speak some men infinitely sweeter
than Others still the taint is much the same, and to
man sufficiently remarkable to serve a guide to
detection Again, the fact of a drag" before
hounds, whence there is no living principle of
breath, proves that hounds will run mere stencil
so repeat there Is 10 possibility of defining what
it is that induces or enables the hound to follow
that which, living or dead, he has thus the power
of pursuing.
As further proof of the incxplicable nature of
scent, and the power of appreciation and mental
observation in the dog, though the tale Is told IN
my Reminisc cenccs Of Huntsman,' must here
refer to it again. | had killed n doe in the New
Forest, and havin. executed that warrant, the
keeper, leaving the vcnlson on the heather went
for his cart while beat the surrounding hills for
rabbits or woodcocks. A Scottish gazehOund, used
to deer, was with me, also my terriers, and my
triever Tramp, who was cross between the setter
and Newfoundland dog, which for retrieving Is
perhaps the best cross of all. On coming to high
point of land commanding the position of the dead
deer, missed her, when knowing that the cart had
not yet arrived, sent servant to ascertain If the
venson was really gone, or only hidden from my
sight by some intervening obstacle. If it was gone
the man was to hold up his hat. On his arrival al
the spot that signal was given, and on my hasten
inc up it evident TO me that the deer had been
dragged into some high furze, then lifted up and
carried bodily away. More than an hour might
have passed since the robbery, and from the high
est ground TO which we could attain, not soul
was in sight. | had two or three men with me ut
tery strange to my dogs, woodnen of the forest,
and these | sent in different directions, so there
were three or more lines of footsteps, all tainted
with the blood of the deer, the individual OF each
being unknown to my dogs, and the lines by which
these men left me crossing each other. Lett alone
and in great Indignation, | appealed 10 the we'll
known sagacity of the dog, and tried to induce the
deer GREYHOUND to trace the robbers in vain. All
he did was to 90 back to the bloody spot where
the deer had lain, and then to give up all further
search At last my retriever Tramp, who had new
er hunted a man or deer in his life, left my heels,
looked up in my face, and said, as plain as dog
could speak, that he understood all about 1t and
would assist ne. His look is impressed on me at
this moment, though he Is no more, his head having
been severed from his body by the wheel of rail-
way carriage. Tramp having thus taken the mat
ter in hand and looked hard at 10 see If COM
pretended him. trotted Just for all the world like
a mad dog, nose and stern down, and in totally
different mood and method from those IN which he
followed game | watched and followed, and in
dread of failure that he kept on line OF my
own men but my delight may be imagined when
| saw him check at where the lines diverged, and
take up a line about which knew nothing. With
a look to see that attended, he went on to the
railway and then, before he jumped upon the line,
he came TO 4 check. After puZZllng for some time,
and stopping to contemplate me if to consult
me- he took up the running down the outside of the
line towards where three plateayers were at work,
but before he got to them, or even halfway to
them, he again checked, looked wistfully at me,
and returned to the spot where he was sure, and
then hesitatins no longer he jumped on and cross
ed the line; when, | crept through the wires
after him. saw that he actually trOd an The foot
prints of man and that though that fOotstep was
smaller than the one crossing the line with it, it
Lsnnk rnorn Geenly into the sand. Indicating thai