272 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



even in the case of barren birds, I may quote the follow- 

 ing from the naturalist Couch. I do so because, although 

 the instance is a trivial one, and also one of frequent 

 occurrence, it is interesting as showing that a deeply rooted 

 instinct or emotion may assert itself powerfully even in 

 the absence of what may be termed its natural stimulus or 

 object : 



I was once witness to a curious instance of the yearning 

 for progeny in a diminutive bantam hen. 



There was at this time a nest of the common hen in a se- 

 cluded part of the garden, and the parent had been sitting on its 

 eggs, till compelled by hunger she left them for a short time. 

 This absence was fatal ; for the bantam had in the meantime 

 found its situation in a covered recess in the hedge, and I saw 

 her creep into it with all the triumph of the discoverer of a 

 treasure. The real mother now returned, and great was her 

 agony at finding an intruder in her nest. The expression of her 

 eye and the attitude of her head were emphatic of surprise at 

 the impudence of the proceeding. But after many attempts to 

 recover possession she was compelled to resign her rights, for 

 the bantam was too resolute to be contended with ; and though 

 its body was not big enough to cover the whole of the eggs, and 

 thus some of them were not hatched, yet in due season the prida 

 of this audacious step-mother was gratified by strutting at the 

 head of a company of robust chickens, which she passed off upon 

 the feathered public as a brood of her own. 1 



As evidence of sympathy I shall quote in extenso an 

 interesting case which has been communicated to me by a 

 young lady, who desires her name withheld. There are 

 several more or less corroborative cases in the anecdote- 

 books, 2 so that I have no doubt as to the substantial ac- 

 curacy of the account : 



My grandfather had a Swan River gander, which had been 

 reared near the house, and had consequently attached himself to 

 the members of the family ; so much so that, on seeing any of 

 them at a distance, he would run to meet them with all possible 

 demonstrations of delight. 



But ' Swanny ' was quite an outcast from his own tribe ; 

 and as often as he made humble overtures to the other geese, so 



1 Couch, Illustrations of Instinct, p. 232. 



* See especially Bingley, Animal Biography, vol. ii., pp. 327-29. 



