Mr Black wall on the Instincts of Birds. S55 



the several offices they have to perform, admits of such numer- 

 ous and decisive proofs, that it is truly amazing how a person of 

 so much observation as Darwin could so entirely overlook them. 



Those young birds which do not acquire the use of their eyes 

 for several days after they are hatched, open their mouths for 

 food as soon as they are stimulated by hunger, not only when 

 the old ones bring it to them, but when any thing approaches 

 the nest. Nestlings, too, as soon as they are grown sufficiently 

 large, mute over the edge of the nest, though the parent birds 

 carefully convey to a distance whatever drops from them, that 

 they do not succeed in ejecting. These actions occur also when 

 birds are brought up in confinement, however young they may 

 be when taken, and therefore must be instinctive. 



The common duck has its toes connected by a strong mem- 

 brane, which enables it to swim with facility ; and the young of 

 this species, though hatched under birds which instinctively 

 avoid committing themselves to the water, rush to it vtiXh avidity 

 almost as soon as they are extricated from the shell, notwith- 

 standing the utmost exertions of the foster mother to divert them 

 from it. 



Young swifts are rarely, if ever, observed to 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 ac- 

 tion, 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, ex- 

 perience, or reflection. Neither can it l)e 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 instincts peculiar to their 

 respective species, as I have had several opportunities of ascer- 

 taining. How young birds, by their struggles in the egg, can 



