INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The fascinating review in your issue of April 4th of Prof. KOhler's book on the intelligence of chimpanzees suggests some remarkable instances of intelligence in other animals involving use of implements. At Malta some thirty "ears ago a brother officer informed a number of us that he had seen a goat on the glacis scraping its back with a stick held in its mouth. The statement was, of course, received :with derision, the Maltese goat being always regarded as fair mtock-in-trade for a leg-pull, but, a few days later, when the Isame officer and I chanced to be passing the herd, he suddenly pointed to one of them saying, " There you are ; look for your- Iself if you won't believe me," and there sure enough was the lgoat —or a goat—vigorously rasping an otherwise inaccessible !zone of backbone with a stick gripped between its teeth for iall the world as if it were playing the violin.
t The other case was of two cats we used to feed with milk i from a bowl on our verandah in Bermuda. The bowl was of a Pow, flat description with rather small mouth ; thus, whichever cat had the first innings filled it to exclusion of the other, and the efforts of number two to oust number one by using its paw as a lever, desperate but unavailing, were diverting to a degree. In one of its struggles, however, it chanced that number two cat pulled the bowl toward itself, thereby causing the opposite lip of the bowl to chuck number one cat under the chin and throw its head out automatically. Promptly number two went in to bat, and the efforts of number one to get ;him out and get back again were even more diverting ; but Plumber two was running up a heavy score, and number one's chances were looking thin when, by like happy inadvertence, chanced to draw the bowl toward himself. Up went head !number two, and, quick as winking number one was back. iFrom that time, each cat having discovered Plow to foreclose ,at will, the monopoly game was up ; mutual recognition and respect prevailed, and each learned to concede to his fellow a fair average number of laps before interfering. Thenceforward, as long as any milk remained, the bowl— often replenished from the side—would scrape its way back and fore on the concrete like a pendulum, to the huge enter- tainment of all and sundry. The point is, the cats taught themselves entirely, even exploiting the bowl as an implement apart from its primary use.—I am, Sir, &c., T. C. SKINNER,
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