S44? Mr Black wall wi the Instincts of Birds, 



no apporttmity of procuring specimens of them, or of ascertain- 

 ing the colours of their plumage. Indeed, in this last particular, 

 distinct species, as the willow wrens, several of the larks, finches, 

 &c^ so nearly resemble each other; and individuals of the same 

 species, as many of the falcons, gulls, sandpipers, ducks, &c., are 

 so very dissimilar, and vary so greatly with age, change of season, 

 and other circumstances, that colour cannot always be rehed upon 

 as affording sufficient evidence of specific identity. A much surer 

 criterion will be found in the uniformity so conspicuous in the 

 manners and economy of birds of the same kind ; a coincidence 

 which can only be accounted for by supposing that their actions 

 are instinctive. That this is actually the case I shall attempt to 

 shew, though it must be admitted that they are occasionally mo- 

 dified, in a considerable degree, by the exercise of the intellec- 

 tual faculties. 



I will not occupy the time of the Society in examining the 

 many vague and contradictory opinions, which have been en- 

 tertained with regard to the nature of instinct, by the various 

 authors who have written on the subject, being convinced 

 that they are purely speculative, and tend to retard, rather 

 than advance, the progress of science. We must not, however, 

 pass unnoticed, the sophistical doctrine, so ingeniously main- 

 tained by Dr Darwin, in Zoonomia*, that what is ujRially 

 termed instinct in animals, has reference to the powers of in- 

 tellect solely ; since the feathered tribes, notwithstanding the 

 highly curious and unequivocal examples of instinctive actions 

 which they exhibit, have furnished him with some of his most 

 plausible arguments in support of it. 



Depending on the assertion of Kircherf, that young nightin- 

 gales, when hatched by other birds, never sing till they are in- 

 structed ; and confiding in the remarks of JonstonJ, that the 

 nightingales which visit Scotland have not the same harmony as 

 those of Italy ; Dr Darwin was hastily led to conclude, that the 

 songs of birds, in general, are artificial. Having observed, also, 

 that poultry readily obey their usual summons to be fed, and 

 that young ducks, hatched under the domestic hen, soon appear 

 to understand her calls ; and giving credit to the mistaken idea, 



• See the section on Instinct, vol. i. 

 f De Musurgia, cap. de Lusciniis. 

 X Pennant's British Zoology. 



