258 Mr Blackwall on tite Instincts of B\rd^. 



encroaching waters, and I believe the instance related by Mon- 

 tague is solitary in the records of ornithology. 



This propensity to hide the food it cannot devour, is not, 

 however, peculiar to the crow. I have noticed it in the raven 

 and magpie ; and rooks, in the autumn, frequently bury acorns 

 in the earth, probably with the intention of having recourse to 

 them when their wants are more urgent ; but, sometimes for- 

 getting where they have concealed them, they germinate, and 

 not unfrequently excite surprise, by the singularity of the situa- 

 tions in which they grow, far distant from any trees by which 

 they could have been produced, and where it is very evident 

 that they have not been planted by man. 



It may be proper to remark here, in order to obviate mis- 

 apprehension, that, notwithstanding the circumstances attending 

 this seemingly provident mode of securing a supply of food 

 against a future occasion, sometimes afford unequivocal evidence 

 of an intelligent and discerning agent, yet the act of hiding is 

 induced by a purely instinctive propensity. This will be ad- 

 mitted by every one who considers that the species of birds 

 which are remarkable for this peculiarity, practise it, however 

 well they may be fed, when brought up from the nest in a state 

 of domestication. 



In addition to the numerous proofs of the intelligence of 

 birds already given, I may mention their susceptibility of re- 

 ceiving instruction by education. Thus, eagles, falcons, and 

 hawks, have been trained to limit the effects of their instinctive 

 propensity to kill, to a particular species of game ; and to re- 

 turn to the call and line of the falconer, after having struck 

 down the quarry. The cormorant, too, was formerly employed 

 with success in taking fish. Here, then, not only great attach- 

 ment to their keepers, and much docility of disposition, are 

 evinced by birds which are naturally wild and voracious, but a 

 considerable share of memory is displayed, and a surprising de- 

 gree of controul exercised, over some of their most active in- 

 stincts. 



Several birds of the finch, grosbeak, and warbler genera, ac- 

 quire the art of piping long and difficult tunes with facility and 

 precision ; and it is well known that some of the parrots, and 

 also the jay, starling, jackdaw, and magpie, readily learn to 



