next day the
young had strangely disappeared, but I am not sure that the mother had
eaten them. Hogs, cats, and rabbits will sometimes kill and eat their
young even when food is plentiful. Crocodiles show an occasional
cannibalistic tendency, while water-shrews are very pugnacious and
oftentimes fight until one is killed. The victorious one eats his enemy!
Thus it appears that Nature does not entirely disapprove of cannibalism,
or she would not allow so many of her creatures to practise it.

Theft is a common vice among these various criminals. Monkeys and
baboons form regular bands to rob and plunder. They have a chief who
sees that a sentinel is posted at each dangerous post. The plunderers
then line up in a long row, and the leader gets the booty and passes it
along the line until it reaches the last of the band--the receiver. He
deposits it in a safe place. If the sentry sounds an alarm, they all
flee away, each with as much booty as he can grab. If the enemy presses
too close, all booty is thrown away.

Passion, especially of love, causes much crime among animals as it does
among men. Jealousy burns fiercely even in the breast of a beast. It is
a common heritage of the fiercest lion and the gentle gazelle alike, and
is capable of perpetrating the most dreadful crimes.

There are types of ugly dispositioned animals, who are always in a
ferocious mood, just like certain ill-tempered human beings, who believe
everything and everybody is trying to injure them. The common shrew, for
example, is noisy, bold and fussy. He seems to delight in calling
attention to himself by his grunty, squeaky voice. He advertises himself
as a bad animal; and bad he is, for his terrible odour prevents other
animals from coming near. Horses and mules are at times quite ferocious,
and kick and bite, with no idea of obedience or kindness. They, of
course, like our human criminals, are mentally unbalanced. Skilled horse
trainers can detect at a glance a criminally inclined horse.

Rogue elephants are common in India. Even their trumpeting shows a
ferocity and unbalance that terrifies the natives. Often these criminal
elephants are sufferers of mental ailments. A respectable, law-abiding
elephant herd will not allow a thug or rogue to live in their midst.
They recognise him as dangerous for their society, and combine to force
him entirely away from their homes.

Certain criminal animals have a strange antipathy for members of their
own tri