inferences and of observation.

The promptings of reason, after very short experience, are well shown by
the following actions of American monkeys, which stand low in their
order. Rengger, a most careful observer, states that when he first gave
eggs to his monkeys in Paraguay they smashed them and thus lost much of
their contents; afterward they gently hit one end against some hard
body, and picked off the bits of shell with their fingers. After cutting
themselves only once with any sharp tool, they would not touch it again,
or would handle it with the greatest caution. Lumps of sugar were often
given them wrapped up in paper; and Rengger sometimes put a live wasp in
the paper, so that in hastily unfolding it they got stung; after this
had once happened they always held the packet to their ears to detect
any movement within.

The following cases relate to dogs. Mr. Colquhoun winged two wild ducks,
which fell on the farther side of a stream; his retriever tried to bring
over both at once, but could not succeed; she then, though never before
known to ruffle a feather, deliberately killed one, brought over the
other, and returned for the dead bird. Colonel Hutchinson relates that
two partridges were shot at once, one being killed, the other wounded;
the latter ran away and was caught by the retriever, who on her return
came across the dead bird: "She stopped, evidently greatly puzzled, and
after one or two trials, finding she could not take it up without
permitting the escape of the winged bird, she considered a moment, then
deliberately murdered it by giving it a severe crunch, and afterward
brought away both together. This was the only known instance of her
ever having wilfully injured any game." Here we have reason, though not
quite perfect, for the retriever might have brought the wounded bird
first and then returned for the dead one, as in the case of the two