1 32 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



We can not accept the conclusion of the writer quoted above, that 

 " fear for particular things remains in the main instinctive." Fear and 

 association, as we have seen, are without doubt developed, like all else, 

 by a gradual process, however abrupt certain reactions of fear may 

 appear. The normal and usual reactions of daily life seem to go 

 through a sifting process; the usual pass readily through the sieve of 

 experience and are stamped as harmless by association, provided they 

 are really harmless, or at least not disagreeable. Further, there seems 

 to be left a residue of strange or unusual sights, sounds or tactual 

 stimuli, ready to produce the fear manifestation, at a moment's call, 

 when this particular stage in the developing instinct has been reached. 

 The reaction is instinctive, but in no true sense would it seem to be the 

 inherited fear of any particular object or thing. Fear of objects having 

 particular, inherent qualities, which are harmful or unpleasant can 

 come only from experience of their harmful or disagreeable effects. 



Habits of Young Kingfishers. — In my work on " The Home Life of 

 Wild Birds," I have described some curious habits which kingfishers 

 show when taken from their underground nest at an early age, espe- 

 cially the habit of sitting still, and of walking backwards. The earlier 

 observations were made over ten years ago, and thinking that some 

 other questions might be involved, such as the rising instinct of fear, 

 experiments were repeated on another family of these birds in the sum- 

 mer of 1908. When dug out of the ground on July 8, the five young 

 in this case were found lying twenty-eight inches below the surface, at 

 the end of a six-foot tunnel ; they were in " pin-feathers," and according 

 to my estimate about eight days old. Experiments were made on the 

 ninth, fourteenth, twentieth and twenty-third days, when the young 

 were at an age approximately corresponding to the date, with the fol- 

 lowing results; fear did not seem to play any part as a disturbing or 

 inhibitory factor in their behavior during the first two days ; they would 

 go forward or backward, rather indiscriminately, whatever their position 

 might be with reference to the observer, and whatever the nature of the 

 surface upon which they were placed. On subsequent days, the tend- 

 ency to walk backward increased, and though fear was rising, they were 

 readily quieted, and when placed in certain positions they would sit 

 quiet for long intervals. 



The following notes were made on the behavior of these kingfishers 

 on the last day of observation, July 23 ; when placed on the pine carpet, 

 all began to make off with fluttering wings, going forward with crests 

 erect and rattles sounding. When recovered and placed in line, they 

 soon quieted, and the backward walking movements began (see Figs. 

 31 and 32). All showed the same tendency, and one, in which it was 

 especially marked, would retreat four feet before the camera could be 

 focused, and this was repeated for the twentieth time. The same per- 



