INSTINCTS OF BIRDS. '283 



on tlie stony beach, fracture their shells, and 

 thus get possession of the contents. Perhaps 

 it would not be easy to select a more striking 

 example of intelligence among the feathered 

 tribes than this, where on one expedient proving 

 unsuccessful, after a sufficient trial had been 

 made of it, another was immediately resorted to. 



Chickens in their early attempts to catch flies 

 and other winged insects shew little or no address, 

 but repeated failures teach them to use more cir- 

 cumspection ; and they soon learn to distinguish 

 between an active, vigilant prey, and the inani- 

 mate substances on which they likewise feed. 

 This cautiousness of proceeding is clearly the 

 effect of information obtained by experience, and 

 affords an example of an instinctive power being 

 excited to activity by the intellect j but a still 

 more extraordinary instance of acquired know- 

 ledge is given by Montagu in the supplement 

 to the Ornithological Dictionaiy. This gentle- 

 man observed two crows by the sea shore 

 employed in removing some small fish (the refuse 

 of a fisherman's net) from the edge of the 

 flowing tide. They carried them one by one 

 just above high water mark, and there deposited 

 them under large stones or broken fragments of 

 rocks, after having amply satisfied the immediate 

 calls of hunger. Now it must be conceded 

 2 N 2 



