452 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



than a fortnight, at the end of which time I had to cause a separation, 

 in consequence of tlie hen having suffocated one of the ferrets by- 

 standing on its neck. During the tvhole of the time that tJie ferrets 

 were left with the hen the latter had to sit upon the nest y for tlie young 

 ferrets, of course, were not able to follow the hen about as chickens 

 would have done. The hen, as might be expected, was very much 

 puzzled at the lethargy of her offspring. Two or three times a day 

 she used to fly off the nest, calling upon her brood to follow ; but, upon 

 hearing their cries of distress from cold, she always returned imme- 

 diately and sat with patience for six or seven hours more. I should 

 have said that it only took the hen one day to learn the meaning of 

 these cries of distress ; for after the first day she would always run in 

 an agitated manner to any place where I concealed the ferrets, pro- 

 vided that this place was not too far away from the nest to prevent 

 her from hearing the cries of disti-ess. Yet I do not think it would be 

 possible to conceive of a greater contrast than that between the shrill 

 peeping note of a young chicken and the hoarse growling noise of a 

 young ferret. On the other hand, I cannot say that the young ferrets 

 ever seemed to learn the meanings of the hen's clucking. During the 

 whole of the time that the hen was allowed to sit upon the ferrets 

 she used to comb out their hair with her bill, in the same way as 

 hens in general comb out the feathers of their chickens. While 

 engaged in this process, however, she used frequently to stop and 

 look with one eye at the wriggling nest-full with an inquiring gaze 

 expressivfe of astonishment. At other times, also, her family gave her 

 good reason to be surprised ; for she used often to fly off the nest sud- 

 denly with a loud scream an action which was doubtless due to the 

 unaccustomed sensation of being nipped by the young ferrets in their 

 search for the teats. It is further worth while to remark that the hen 

 showed so much uneasiness of mind when the ferrets were taken from 

 her to be fed, that at one time I thought she was going to desert them 

 altogether. After this, therefore, the ferrets were always fed in the 

 nest, and with this arrangement the hen was perfectly satisfied ap- 

 parently because she thought that she then had some share in the 

 feeding process. At any rate she used to cluck when she saw the milk 

 coming, and surveyed the feeding Avith evident satisfaction. 



Altogether I consider this a very remarkable instance of the plas- 

 ticity of instinct. The hen, it should be said, was a young one, and 

 had never reared a brood of chickens. A few months before she 

 reared the young ferrets she had been attacked and nearly killed by 

 an old ferret which had escaped from his hutch. The young ferrets 

 were taken from her several days before their eyes were open. 



In conclusion I may add that, a few weeks before trying this ex- 

 periment with the hen, I tried a similar one with a rabbit. In this 

 case the ferret was newly born, and I gave it to a white doe-rabbit 

 which had littered six days before. Unlike the hen, however, she per- 



