954 Mr Black wall on the Instincts of Birds. 



on, before the brood was half-fledged, the reflection of the wall 

 became insupportable, and must inevitably have destroyed the 

 tender young, had not affection suggested an expedient, and 

 p rompted the parent birds to hover over the nest all the hotter 

 hours, while, with wings expanded, and mouths gaping for 

 breath, they screened off^ the heat from their suff*ering off*spring." 



" A further instance,"" continues the same author *, " I once 

 saw of notable sagacity in a willow-wren, which had built in a 

 bank in my fields. This bird a friend and myself had observed 

 as she sat on her nest ; but were particularly careful not to dis- 

 turb her, though we saw she eyed us with some degree of 

 jealousy. Some days after, as we passed that way, we were de- 

 sirous of remarking how this brood went on ; but no nest could 

 be found, till I happened to take up a large bundle of long 

 green moss, as it were carelessly thrown over the nest, in order 

 to dodge the eye of any impertinent intruder." 



Actuated by a similar motive, old birds, which have their 

 young much handled, use every art to induce them to desert 

 the nest as early as possible ; and I have known the redbreast, 

 on such occasions, take off* her nestlings long before they could 

 make the slightest use of their wings. That this mode of pro- 

 ceeding must be referred to intelligence, cannot, I think, be 

 doubted, as the danger of allowing their progeny to remain in 

 a state of insecurity is evidently perceived, and the surest means 

 of avoiding it is deliberately adopted in consequence. 



Many birds, under particular circumstances, manifest a natu- 

 ral inclination to fight. This disposition is remarkably conspi- 

 cuous in the ruff^, the quail, and the domestic cock. That the 

 feeling is innate, and dependent upon organization, is clearly 

 proved by the established fact, that careful breeding and train- 

 ing exercise a powerful influence upon the last species with re- 

 gard to this propensity. 



Dr Darwin states that pheasants and partridges teach their 

 young to select and take up their food ; and hence he seems 

 disposed to infer that all birds receive instruction in these parti- 

 culars ; but that they are impelled, by instinct, independently of 

 education and experience, to exercise the functions of their va- 

 rious corporeal organs, whose structure is admirably adapted to 



• Nat. Hisfc' of Selborne, p. ' 1 51. 



