"While our voiturier," says Mr. Bakewell, "was resting his horses at
Villeneuve, I observed a singular instance of sagacity in some ducks that
were collected under the carriage. On our throwing out pieces of hard
biscuit, which were too large for them to swallow whole, they made many
efforts to break them with their beaks; failing in this, the younger ones
gave up the spoil, but some of the older ducks carried parts of the
biscuit to a pool of standing water, and held them to soak, till
sufficiently soft to be broken and swallowed with great facility. I must
leave it to metaphysicians to determine whether this process was the
result of induction or instinct."
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