en only one master voice is heard, presently two or
three crows fall upon one of their number and fell him to the ground.
The spectator examines the victim and finds him dead, with his eyes
pecked out. He interprets what he has seen as a court of justice; the
crows were trying a criminal, and, having found him guilty, they
proceeded to execute him. The curious instinct which often prompts
animals to fall upon and destroy a member of the flock that is sick,
or hurt, or blind, is difficult of explanation, but we may be quite
sure that, whatever the reason is, the act is not the outcome of a
judicial proceeding in which judge and jury and executioner all play
their proper part. Wild crows will chase and maltreat a tame crow
whenever they get a chance, just why, it would be hard to say. But the
tame crow has evidently lost caste among them. I have what I consider
good proof that a number of skunks that were wintering together in
their den in the ground fell upon and killed and then partly devoured
one of their number that had lost a foot in a trap.

Another man sees a fox lead a hound over a long railroad trestle, when
the hound is caught and killed by a passing train. He interprets the
fact as a cunning trick on the part of the fox to destroy his enemy! A
captive fox, held to his kennel by a long chain, was seen to pick up
an ear of corn that had fallen from a passing load, chew it up,
scattering the kernels about, and then retire into his kennel.
Presently a fat hen, attracted by the corn, approached the hidden fox,
whereupon he rushed out and seized her. This was a shrewd trick on the
part of the fox to capture a hen for his dinner! In this, and in the
foregoing cases, the observer supplies something from his own mind.
That is what he or she would do under like conditions. True, a fox
does not eat corn; but an idle one, tied by a chain, might bite the
kernels from an ear in a mere spirit of mischief and restlessness, as
a dog or puppy might, and drop them upon the ground; a hen would very
likely be attracted by them, when the fox would be quick to see his
chance.

Some of the older entomologists believed that in a colony of ants and
of bees the members recognized one another by means of some secret
sign or password. In all cases a stranger from another colony is
instantly detected, and a home member as instantly known. This sign or
password, says Burmeister, as quoted by Lubbock, "serves to prevent
any strange bee from