1910] The Ottawa Naturalist. 125 



attempts to catch and kill the small canary futile, finally flew 

 away. 



Two thoughts occurred to me at the time. First, it was 

 interesting to observe how the canary, born and bred in a cage, 

 could recognize danger on the instant; and, secondly, I found 

 myself wondering : would a wild bird on the approach of a hawk 

 show as much agitation as did this little canary? Possibly a 

 wild bird would, if it was caged under similar conditions, but 

 I feel morally certain that if it was allowed the free life of the 

 woods, its first motive would be self-preservation and it would 

 not attempt to make itself conspicuous by any form of agitation 

 or flight. I remember at the time thinking that the canary 

 by domestication and lack of experience had not developed 

 the sense of self-preservation while it could realize danger. 

 However, the realization of danger was the most important 

 observation, and being so it helps to recall other instances of a 

 similar nature. 



To one who has raised chickens, for instance, how usual it 

 is to notice a hen call her chickens to her when any danger ap- 

 proaches. She can spy a hawk aloft far quicker than can a 

 human being and can realize that it is a hawk and that 

 her chickens are in danger even if she had never seen 

 one before. Is not this case quite similar to the canary? 

 They are two cases of pure instinct instinct being defined 

 as a term including all original impulses and that apparent 

 knowledge and skill which animals have without experience. 



I was reading only the other day about a case, told by 

 Ernest Thompson Seton, of a "young mink, still blind, which 

 sucked at a mother cat till fed and then tried to kill her." 

 Surely, if such a case was true, and I have no reason to doubt 

 that it was not, coming from such an authority, it is interesting 

 to notice the hereditary instinct of legitimate prey present in 

 the mind of this young mink. I believe it is a generally recognized 

 rule that among wild animals it is very uncommon to find them 

 destroying one of their own kind. This young mink would not 

 have attacked its own mother and yet it realized, even in that 

 young state of its career, that the cat was lawful prey. 



Such cases as these demonstrate very forcibly that natural 

 untaught wisdom of the animal world and we designate it as 

 instinct. Classify it as we will, however, we could not say it 

 was the product of mental activity, or in other words reason 

 similar to the human reason. 



Nevertheless, with but a moment's thoi:ght we find that a 

 great deal of the conduct in the human life is the result of this 

 same unconsciousness, unreasoning obedience to natural forces. 

 How common it is for us to utter exclamations of surprise or 



