imes I have pursued the common jack-rabbit from a level
field, when the rabbit, coming to a furrow that ran at right angles to
his course, jumped into it, and crouching down, slowly crept away to
the end of the furrow, when it jumped out and ran at full speed
again." This is a good example of the resourcefulness of instinct--the
instinct to escape from an enemy--an old problem met by taking
advantage of an unusual opportunity. To run, to double, to crouch, to
hide, are probably all reflex acts with certain animals when hunted.
The bird when pursued by a hawk rushes to cover in a tree or a bush,
or beneath some object. Last summer I saw a bald eagle pursuing a fish
hawk that held a fish in its talons. The hawk had a long start of the
eagle, and began mounting upward, screaming in protest or defiance as
it mounted. The pirate circled far beneath it for a few minutes, and
then, seeing how he was distanced, turned back toward the ocean, so
that I did not witness the little drama in the air that I had so long
wished to see.

A wounded wild duck suddenly develops much cunning in escaping from
the gunner--swimming under water, hiding by the shore with only the
end of the bill in the air, or diving and seizing upon some object at
the bottom, where it sometimes remains till life is extinct.

I once saw some farm-hands try to capture a fatted calf that had run
all summer in a partly wooded field, till it had become rather wild.
As the calf refused to be cornered, the farmer shot it with his rifle,
but only inflicted a severe wound in the head. The calf then became as
wild as a deer, and scaled fences in much the manner of the deer. When
cornered, it turned and broke through the line in sheer desperation,
and showed wonderful resources in eluding its pursuers. It coursed
over the hills and gained the mountain, where it baffled its pursuers
for two days before it was run down and caught. All such cases show
the resources of instinct, the instinct of fear.

The skill of a bird in hiding its nest is very great, as is the
cunning displayed in keeping the secret afterward. How careful it is
not to betray the precious locality to the supposed enemy! Even the
domestic turkey, when she hides her nest in the bush, if watched,
approaches it by all manner of delays and indirections, and when she
leaves it to feed, usually does so on the wing. I look upon these and
kindred acts as exhibiting only the resourcefulness of instinct.

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