Project Gutenberg 2009-10-13 Public domain in the USA. 120 Burroughs, John 1837 1921 Ways of Nature Ways of nature -- Bird-songs -- Nature with closed doors -- The wit of a duck -- Factors in animal life -- Animal communication -- Devious paths -- What do animals know? -- Do animals think and reflect? -- A pinch of salt -- The literary treatment of nature -- A beaver's reason -- Reading the book of nature -- Gathered by the way. Produced by Chris Curnow, Ritu Aggarwal, Joseph Cooper and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. "Ways of Nature" by John Burroughs is a collection of reflective essays written in the early 20th century. The work delves into the complexities of animal behavior and the interplay between instinct and intelligence, challenging anthropomorphic interpretations of nature. Through his observations, Burroughs explores the nuances of animal life, questioning the extent to which animals possess "sense" in comparison to human consciousness. At the start of the collection, Burroughs introduces the inspiration behind his essays, fueled by letters from schoolchildren inquiring about the intelligence of birds. He reflects on the tendency of contemporary writers to attribute overly human characteristics to animals, cautioning against idealizing their behaviors. Using insightful anecdotes, he illustrates his musings on instinct and judgment in various wildlife situations, emphasizing the lack of reasoning in most animal behavior while acknowledging some instances that may appear to border on intelligence. Overall, the opening portion sets the stage for a thoughtful examination of the natural world, balancing observation with philosophical inquiry. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Animal behavior Natural history -- Outdoor books Animal intelligence QH QL Text Animals-Wild Browsing: Nature/Gardening/Animals Browsing: Science - General Browsing: Science - Genetics/Biology/Evolution 509390 509399 2024-09-13T04:31:56.633861 2023-09-13T09:32:24.118435 text/html text/html 497855 2021-01-05T18:38:21 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 259813 2021-01-05T18:38:21 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 322312 2024-09-13T04:32:06.746814 application/epub+zip 327030 2024-09-13T04:31:59.388802 application/epub+zip 241756 2024-09-13T04:31:57.791832 application/epub+zip 514581 2024-09-13T04:32:11.678764 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 457674 2024-09-13T04:32:05.190806 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 372843 2022-09-14T05:15:21.921474 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 424656 424531 2024-09-13T04:31:55.468857 2023-09-13T09:32:22.996462 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 424514 2021-01-05T18:38:21 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 162241 2021-01-05T18:38:21 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 424513 2021-01-05T18:38:21 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 162198 2021-01-05T18:38:21 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 21555 2024-09-13T04:32:11.819795 application/rdf+xml 12312 2024-09-13T04:31:58.191799 image/jpeg 3305 2024-09-13T04:31:57.989802 image/jpeg 308820 2024-09-13T04:31:56.681879 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia