Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-12-16
INTELLIGENCE OF ANIMALS.


The Boston Traveller notes that the
singular facility with which certain sIli-
mails return to their accustomed abod es
after having been taken away to strar ge
and distant places, has always beer
subject Of wonder No philosoph zeal
reason has ever yet been assigned for
the faculty, power by which ami mails
are thus enabled to find their way lome
without any guide other than pr rein
stinct, or some superior and still more
mysterious faculty. The cat, though
carried from home to great dista ance by
tortuous path, and so concealed as to
have seen nothing Of the ground over
which it was taken, as not even 6' know
the direction of its journey, will turnits
steps, in the first moment of its fr eedom,
to its wonted haunts. The carrier pigeon,
by still more wonderful exercise OF the
same siagacity, will travel thousands Of
miles across oceans where there can be
no trace of, its path, and from distances
whence no sense of sight or smell can
possibly guide it's motions, and with in
conceivable rapidity and unvarying
directness pursue its homeward course.
Migratory birds, after months of absence
from their native places, will return with
fault ess certainty to build their nests in
the same neighborhood, and upon the
same cherished tree. The means by
which this is accomplished is beyond
b uman reason or knowledge. The intui /
tive power which it involves battles sci
entific investigation, and it has not
entered into the Imagination OF man to
conceive of the physical or soul capacity
with which animals are thus endowed.
A late number of the Bulletin de la
Societe Royal Protectrice des Animaux,
published at Brussels, contains some an
ecdotes illustrative of this inexplicable
faculty of animals which are worth no.
ticing for the benefit Of American read,
ers who are curious in such matters. A
dog was sent, as a present to friend, q
distance Of twenty-five miles. He was
conveyed in a closed basket in a Gov
cred carriage. On the night of his arri.
val at his place of destination, the dog
contrived to make his escape, and be-
fore noon the next day had returned to
the point of departure, although the
route traversed chain of steep and
rugged mountains.
Two or three cattle disappeared one
night from large herd that was being
driven from the mountains in Wales to
the London market; and it was supposed
that they had been stolen. Five days
afterward the stray cattle appeared at
the place in the mountains from which
they had been driven, having travelled,
in returning to their first love, at least
| $50 miles. The incident is not merely a
verifcation of Scripture, that the OK
knoweth his owner as well as the ass his
masters crib, but it is complete refu-
tation of the proverbial libel against the
intelligence of that patient and useful
animal.
Grabs, it is we'll known, are generally
taken to market alive, being confined
in boxes, in mass. The fishermen of
Falmouth, in England, are accustomed
to collect their crabs jointly, or at least
to throw them into one mass for trans-1
portation to market. They take care
however, to mark the shells by brand
ing them with hot iron in such man
ner as that each one may know the lot
which belongs TO him. When thus
marked they are packed in boxes and
conveyed to market in boats, some ten
miles from the rocky clefts whence they
are taken. In one instance, when q
boat load thus marked and packed had
reached Falmouth harbor within mile
OF two, one of the boxes was broke'n,
and considerable number of the m
prisoned crabs made their escape Elm
ultaneously, and, as it would seem, by g
concerted arrangement. Plunging into
the water, the happy fugitiyes mildC
their way home to their native erannies
where, three days afterward, the fisher
men found many of them, recogniz inl
them by the brand Of slavery upon thei
backs. They had travelled ten miles a
least on their homeward journey. /
was necessary, in the first place, tina
they should find their way from th'
boat 10 the entrance Of the harbOr o.
Falmouth, from whence they directed
their steps TO the rocks of Cape Lizard
. But how they should have lmowI
whether 70 turn 10 the right or 10 thi
, left is the greatest mystery of the ex
traordinary feat. How they got owe
the distance which separated them from
their rocky habitats. is less mysterious
for they were probably OF the specie
called soldier crabs, and accustomed
? il may be. 70 long marches, II Is no
, uncommon in the West Indies, Wher'
they abound, 70 find them upon torag
ing expeditions six or eight miles ireH
the shore. Ilr -n -,
: The most remarkable instance OF n
, mysterious and unerrinE faculty b,
which snimals, under All csneeivaol
circumsiau ces, are enabled 70 hnd thei
ray home from great distances, remain
I 70 be related. The Archduke and Arcf
> duchess Of Austria spent a portion {
D. last winter ~ Mention, where, % The b.
IN .-f 4. ,-tfrh fka, fnfro1 wns a ltd