THE CONDITION OF YOUNG BIRDS AT BIRTH. 109 



the young were 'altricial' or ' prascocial, ' nidicolous or nidifugous, 

 thus creating an entirely arbitrary system of the same value as those 

 other systems based upon the form of the bill, shape of the wing and 

 so on. The post-Darwinians, working on the lines of evolution, see 

 in these very different conditions, a phylogenetic significance, and re- 

 gard the nidifugous as more reptilian than the nidicolous young. 

 Consequently, those groups which have nidifugous young are to be 

 regarded as standing comparatively low in the scale, whilst those with 

 nidicolous young must be considered to have risen to a higher plane. 

 This newer view is undoubtedly an improvement on the older, but 

 il must, we think, give place to a yet wider interpretation. 



If we turn from the purely systematic point of view to the more 

 philosophical side of the question, as it at present stands, we shall, 

 I think, find an equally unsatisfactory state of affairs. The two 

 most recent text-books of zoology may be cited as authorities. 



According to Jordan and Kellogg ('Animal Life,' 1901), 'those 

 animals are highest in development, with best means of holding their 

 own in the struggle for life, that take best care of their young,' and 

 'among the lower or more coarsely organized birds, such as the chicken, 

 the duck, and the auk, as with reptiles, the young animal is hatched 

 with well-developed muscular system and sense organs, and is capable 

 of feeding itself,' but the offspring of the 'more highly organized forms, 

 such as the thrushes, doves, and song-birds generally' are hatched in 

 a wholly helpless condition, with ineffective muscles, deficient senses, 

 and dependent wholly upon the parent. Similarly Shipley and Mac- 

 Bride write : ' ' The manner the young are cared for is a most important 

 feature. . . . The just-hatched young of the Pheasant and Game-birds 

 are able to run about and look after themselves, whereas those of the 

 Passeres or Songsters, require constant care and attention for a long 

 time. These last are considered ... to be the most highly developed 

 of all birds, both as to their intellects and their flying powers, so that 

 it is hardly too much to say that the increasing sacrifice of the 

 parents on behalf of the young has had its reward, in the improvement 

 it has brought about in all the faculties of the race." 



Those who are responsible for the views just enunciated appear 

 to have forgotten that the cormorants, for example, also bring their 

 young into the world blind, naked and helpless, and not infrequently 

 rear them in a nest of sticks on tree tops; yet the warmest admirer 

 of these birds can not claim for them either a high degree of organ- 

 ization or great intelligence among birds. Their near allies, the dar- 

 ters, gannets, tropic and frigate birds also have helpless young, which 

 in the case of the frigate birds and darters are also reared in nests in 

 trees. We might multiply instances, but these are sufficient for our 



