vi THE DOMESTIC LIFE OF ANIMALS 123 



hawks in disguise ; they are " greedy feeders," says 

 Brehm, " discontented, ill-conditioned, passionate 

 fellows ; in short, decidedly unamiable birds." There is 

 no true pairing ; they are polyandrous. Perhaps the 

 so-called " parasitic ' trick is an outcrop of an egoistic 

 constitution which shows its seamy side in other ways. 

 The young bird, " a dog in the manger by birth," evicts 

 the helpless rightful tenants whether they are still passive 

 in the eggs or more assertive as nestlings, and grows up 

 a spoilt child, giving his fascinated foster-parents no 

 easy life. 



We have spoken of the cuckoo as egoistic, and so on, 

 but in the strict sense, of course, we are not justified in 

 using words which suggest that animals are ethical 



o oo 



agents. They exhibit self-regarding and other-regard- 

 ing activities, but we have no reason to believe that 

 they have any ethical or other concepts. They have the 

 raw materials of morality, but they do not ' think the 

 ought." It is legitimate, however, if the evidence bears 

 it out, to call a bird greedy, or passionate, or non- 

 maternal. 



A luminous suggestion in regard to the extraordinary 

 case of the European Cuckoo has been made by Prof. 

 F. H. Herrick, who points out that migrating, mating, 

 nest-building, egg-laying, brooding, nursing, educating, 

 and, again, migrating instincts in birds follow one 

 another " with almost clock-like ' precision in a definite 

 harmonious series. In certain cuckoos and cow-birds 

 the rhythm of the cycle has been disturbed. This has 

 its counterpart in other cases where one link in the chain 

 is drawn-out or another is abbreviated. Thus a bird 

 may build two nests, or another may drop its egg on the 

 ground, or another may migrate too soon. A lack of 

 attimement between egg-laying and nest-making is a 

 casual variation in many birds ; it has become the rule 

 in certain cuckoos and cow-birds, and the lack of attune- 

 ment has been regularised and compensated for by 

 " the parasitic habit." 



There is much to be said about the domestic life of 

 animals their courtship, their helpful partnership, and 



