The Irishman and the owl.
There are some animals that you never see engaged in sports. Their thoughts seem to be always of the sober kind. You never see toads and frogs play. They always look very grave. The owl is one of the soberest-looking of animals. He looks as if he was considering something. Here is a picture of one. A man once bought an owl, supposing it to be a parrot. Some one asked him, a day or two after, if his parrot talked yet. No, said he, but he keeps up a great thinking, and I suppose he will speak his thoughts when he gets more acquainted.
The thinking of animals in taking care of their young.
Animals think a great deal in taking care of their young. What care the hen exercises over her brood of chickens! She has some of the same thoughts and feelings of love that a mother has in taking care of her child. And the bird, that has her little ones in the nest, has many thoughts about them as she goes out to gather food, and then wings her way back to put it into their open mouths.
It is interesting to watch canary-birds as they hatch and rear their young. The male bird commonly insists upon it that the female shall sit upon the nest all the time, while he takes upon himself the task of feeding her. A male canary belonging to a friend of mine was excessively particular on this point. He would not let his mate leave the nest for a moment, and if she did he would fight her till she went back. He was exceedingly busy in feeding her, and might certainly be called a good provider.
A lady gave me a very interesting account of two orioles that built their nest on a tree close by her father’s house. They came regularly every year to the same spot, and the family always knew the very day of their arrival by their joyous singing. They seemed to have the same feelings of joy that people generally do when they return to a much-loved home after a long absence. At one time one of their little ones fell from the nest. The parents manifested their concern by flying about in the most hurried, uneasy manner, and making mournful cries. The family pitied the poor birds, and the little one was carefully picked up, amid the flutterings and cries of the old birds, and was replaced in the nest. And now the joy of the parent birds over their restored one was expressed by a long and merry peal of song, as they sat perched on the branch close by their little nestlings. At length one of these orioles died, and the other left the nest and never more returned.
The spider.
See that spider on his web. He is watching for flies. The mind in his little brain thinks of every fly that comes buzzing along, and is anxious that it should get its legs entangled in the snares that he has woven. How glad he feels when he sees one caught by these snares! And if he thinks that they are not strong enough to hold the fly, he runs and quickly weaves some more threads about him. In the same way do all animals that catch their prey think very busily while they are doing it.
The thinking of animals in building their dwellings.
Animals think much in building their dwellings. The bird searches for what it can use in building its nest, and in doing this it thinks. The beavers think as they build their dams and their houses. They think in getting their materials, and also in arranging them, and in plastering them together with mud.