al thinking."

I knew of a tame ape in Chicago that learned to swing from the end of a
clothes-line and seemed to enjoy it very much. The line was just the
right length and properly hung so as to allow the ape to swing out from
a kitchen window and touch the ground. Just for fun, some one cut a
piece from the line so that he could not reach the ground; immediately
the ape hunted another piece of cord, tying it to the end of his line so
as to increase its length, and much to his delight, continued to swing
on the line.

The distinctive features of animal protection and home government,
especially in the higher groups, may compare favourably with any of the
methods used by civilised man. This is true both of their offensive and
defensive contrivances and for their monarchies and republics. They use
shells, scales, plates of every kind, with innumerable modifications for
various purposes--spines and allied armaments--all shapes and sizes;
poisonous secretions, deadly odours, strong claws and teeth wielded by
strong muscles, and form colonies that are more than a gregarious
association. In most cases, they have communities composed of
individuals living individual lives, yet which act in cases of need as
one unit.

X

ANIMAL ARCHITECTS, ENGINEERS, AND HOUSE BUILDERS

_"The heart is hard that is not pleased
With sight of animals enjoying life,
Nor feels their happiness augment his own."_

The most popular and perhaps the most interesting department of
natural-history study is that which treats of the manner in which
animals utilise the various materials of the universe for purposes of
protection, for war and defence, for raiment, food, and even the
luxuries of life. Man, by his superior power of adaptation, excels the
lower animals in providing for the comforts of life; but, on the other
hand, in such practical arts as engineering and domestic architecture
man frequently finds himself an amateur in comparison. With all man's
inventions he has not been able to equal some of the remarkable results
produced by some animals. The beaver, for example, shows a more profound
knowledge of hydraulics than man himself. The power possessed by these
craftsmen, not only in felling trees, but in duly selecting the best
places for making homes and in appropriating substances suitable for
their needs, is a never-ending marvel!

Nowhere can we find a greater animal-workman than the beaver. He belongs
to the great burro