APPETITES AND AVERSIONS. 1 05 



the bird in the progress of a cycle, she very often gives up that 

 cycle and begins a new one. Thus, a cedarbird who has just 

 completed her nest one day finds a man examining it; she forth- 

 with abandons that nest and begins to build another. But, 

 again, the same phenomenon appears in human behavior. A 

 man begins to build a house; when he has progressed far with 

 the building he meets some horrible experience in it which "turns 

 him against" it, and nothing will induce him to proceed with that 

 house; he abandons it and begins to build elsewhere. The 

 cedarbird has had a, to her, horrible experience which has turned 

 her against her nest; that nest has lost its value for her; the sight 

 of it now, instead of arousing her appetence, arouses aversion. 



C. J. Herrick ('15, p. 61) says that many of these cyclical 

 activities of birds are "simply complex chain reflexes." The 

 reason he gives for this statement is that "each step in the cycle 

 is a necessary antecedent to the next, and if the series is inter- 

 rupted it is often necessary for the birds to go back to the be- 

 ginning of the cycle. They cannot make an intelligent adjust- 

 ment midway of the series." But all this, in some degree, is true 

 of the behavior of human beings toward their mates, their nests, 

 and their young. This has been illustrated in the preceding 

 paragraph, and a few illustrations are here added. As to mates: 

 When the cordial relation between a husband and wife is, by 

 some mischance, broken, the pair may make an "intelligent 

 adjustment" if the difficulty is not too great. But birds also 

 make such adjustments constantly, when the difficulty is not 

 too great. And with human beings, as with birds, the difficulty 

 may be insurmountable; in which case, the husband and wife 

 separate for a week, a month, or a year, after which period of 

 rest (Phase IV.), they can commence a new cycle with Phase I., 

 courtship. As to their nests: The fact of homesickness proves 

 that the behavior of a human being toward his or her home runs 

 in a series which conforms to Herrick's statements. As to be- 

 havior toward the young: The inability of human parents to 

 make "an intelligent adjustment midway of the series" is shown 

 by the fact that they cannot arouse the fullest degree of parental 

 behavior toward an adopted child unless they adopt the child in 

 its infancy. These facts do not prove that the human behavior 



