280 INSTINCTS OF BIRDS. 



Youiig swifts are rarely, if ever, observed lo 

 perch ; and as they cannot easily be distinguished 

 from old ones by their flight, they must display 

 a considerable command of wing the very first 

 time they quit the nest. 



Many of the gallinaceous tribe scratch up the 

 earth with their feet in search of food ; and they 

 will frequently repeat this action, when fed on 

 a stone or boarded floor, where it can answer no 

 useful purpose. Now, as they do not correct 

 this error, it is plain, that the action itself does 

 not originate in observation, experience, or re- 

 flection. Neither can it be attributed to educa- 

 tion; nor is this particular misapplication of it 

 to be ascribed to the force of habit, as it may 

 often be observed in very young chickens, which 

 have never associated with others of their kind. 

 But, what is still more to the purpose, and, 

 indeed, decisive of the general question, even 

 pheasants and partridges, as well as ducks, 

 chickens, turkeys, and guinea fowls, which have 

 been hatched by artificial heat, possess the in- 

 stincts peculiar to their respective species, as I 

 have had several opportunities of ascertaining. 

 How young birds by their struggles in the egg 

 can at all facilitate the use of their legs, as Dr. 

 Darwin conjectures, is to me inconceiveable, 

 especially when the position in which they lie is 



