The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-20
Intelligence of Wild Birds
Wonderful Reasoning Power Displayed by the Denizens
of the Upper Air.

Upper Air.
The domestic animals which have
~ralists. are so clumsy in their move-
ments that they will not bear COMPARE
son with animals in a wild state and
a cat hat goe into the mountaine
with a sheep herdcr and stays there
for six months shows quite a different
character from IA cat that lives in do
nestle surroundings. 1t Is the same
fake stories told of shepherd dogs. 1t
is perhaps true that no dog ever tried
to save a drowning person or rescue
one lost in the snow. \ shepherd
tells of the strange behavior of a dog
which had our pups. These pups had
been put upon a %sheepskin on n knoll
under Il wagon bed turned bottom side
up with n rock under one edge to en-
able the mother to go under and out.
into h cabin where the shepherd
lived and which was ear the wagon
bed. The place where the pups were
kept was not far from a small stream
and not high above it. One night
the shepherd was awakened by a
scratching upon the door. He did not
get up to see what was the trouble
49, "a INV uoN Nv
continued until he at length went to
the door and opened it. The dog
jumped upon him in the greatest de-
light and ran in front of him. But he
did not follow. She again showed her
delight at his presence by jumping
around in great glee and running off
in the same direction. He then fol-
turned wagon bed under which the
pups We're kept. n heavy chinook"
wind had been blowing during the
night. the deep snow on the hills had
been melted and the creek had risen
until the pups were atloat under the
wagon bed and the dog could not get
in to them. The shepherd raised the
bed and rescued the pups and carried
them up the hill out OF reach of high
water. where he made a bed for them
and returned to his own. This dog
had never scratched at the door be-
fore and had never been in the house.
The remembrance by animals of
locality is very strange Seals make
their nests in the ice by keeping a hole
open above the sea water. The now
falls over this nest n covers 1t to
some depth. The seals approach it
from the water and make long jour-
dark under the ice and snow and there
are no marks by which these animals
could retrace their course. it is quite
ineNplicable how they return to heir
nests. a lark will build her nest in
the timothy grass of a large meadow
the whole field being exactly alike.
She has no trouble in returning to his
nest. though a human being. having
once found such n nest. would be puZ-
Fled to find it again without some mark
in h field. Certain red sea fish come
annually to Olive lake in eastern Ore
gon to spawn. some hundreds of miles
from the ocean. They come to no 9TH
er lake. and in coming up to this M
from the mouth of the Columbia river
pass innumerable tributaries of that
river that might lead them astray. but
and having spawned. return to their
home in the Pacific ocean,.
The reproduction of animals and
birds seems to bear a proportion to the
dangers encountered by their young.
The relative numbers of those inter-
dependent in a state of nature is IN
alterably fixed also. Consider the case
timber wolf-before the white man
came. The buffalo lived upon the
grass. the Indian Upon the buffalo. as
did the wolf. Had the Indian pos
sessed the modern rifle. the ease with
which he would have been enabled
to slaughter the buffalo would have
resulted in the determination of these.
animals. and the Indians extermina-
ton also. conceding that he could have
acquired no other means of obtaining
his food. The wolf was Obliged to ex-
ert himself to obtain his food. as it was
not possible for him to pull down 4
grown buffalo nor kill a calf without
considerable danger to himself. Only
the more courageous and stronger
wolves were able to obtain food. Had
these possessed the swiftness of the
horse and the strength of the lion they
would have exterminated the buffalo
in time and themselves become extinct
upon the destruction of their food sup
ply.
Animals and birds are required to
maintain themselves by exertion and
|, risk. h hawk must have a good eye
and a swift flight and keen bill and
sharp talons to enable him to supply
himself with food. 1t is not every
morning that he can catch a gopher
and sometimes he must fast many
days. The small bird upon which he
preys must also exert himself to es-
cape the talons Of his enemy. The ex-
ertions of these two. the one to kill
and the other to escape. has brought
about the change from the clumsy
aeroplane OF today to the wing Of to-
hhoiio" WHICH Will enable men to sail,
to hover, to fly straight up or straight
down. to skim the earth, and perform
generally those wonderful feats in the
air seer every day among birds. The
birds development has been due to use
of the machine. an organic machine,
with veins and blood building I'D those
parts Of the frame most subjected to
use. Man must build his wing by aid
OF his intelligence since his machine
does not grow. The giant yellow pine
of the forest. standing 200 feet or more
in height. limbless till near the ton.
where a tuft Of limbs grow s. a good
example mature of this growth. Take
a cross section of this tree at any
length. or a cross section of any of its
limbs or Of any of it's twigs and it will
be found that the weight and stress
upon 1t hears a fixed proportion to it's
area. That the weight per square
inch upon the cross section near the
bottom Of the tree is the same as the
weight per square. inch higher up
which gives the tree its graceful out
line. Nature thus exhibits an econo-
my in the use of material. This meth
of building along the list Of least re-
%sistance and with the greatest economy
Of material is a result Of a law and
the law is the result Of an intelli.
gence which is met in all the works
Of nature-and which gives rise to
the hope that back of the design lies