INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE IN BIRDS 



549 



After leaving the nest, we observe the more perfect performance of ac- 

 tivities already begun within it, as pecking, crouching, standing erect 

 with head upturned so admirably illustrated in the cuckoo, and es- 

 pecially in the cedar waxwing, where its use for concealment is obvious, 

 as well as following, hiding, play, imitation, preying, and the more 

 perfect expression of flight, finally followed by migration in late sum- 

 mer or fall, which may be performed, as in the cuckoos, quite inde- 

 pendent of the parents. 



IV 



The description of the reproductive cycle given above is a com- 

 posite, and applies most completely to the altricious birds, which are 

 born blind and would quickly perish but for timely care of their par- 

 ents. There are many special instincts in the twelve thousand or more 

 species of known birds, but few of which have been adequately studied, 

 and there are many minor variations in every term of the series, the 

 discussion of which would require a volume. 



The power of the parental instincts to banish fear in all classes of 

 the higher animals has been recognized and admired from antiquity, 

 and nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the brooding bird. The 

 ancient Israelites were forbidden to take the mother bird with her 

 young, because at certain times, as one commentator has observed, she 

 will not avail herself of her power of concealment and flight, the ob- 



Fig. 11. Great Herring Gulls on Preserve; chicks on feeding spot, 

 watching old bird, and following her movements. 



