18 INTRODUCTION. 



quently both amused and surprised, in the Southern states, by the 

 sagacity of the Common Blackbirds,* in starting from the ploughing 

 field, with looks of alarm, at the sight of a white man, as distinct from 

 and more dangerous than the black slave, whose furrow they closely 

 and familiarly followed, for the insect-food it afforded them, without 

 betraying any appearance of distrust. Need we any further proof 

 of the capacity for change of disposition, -than that which has so 

 long operated upon our domestic poultry, " those victims," as Buffon 

 slightingly remarks, " which are multiplied without trouble, and 

 sacrificed without regret." How different the habits of our Goose 

 and Duck in their wild and tame condition. Instead of that ex- 

 cessive and timid cautiousness, so peculiar to their savage nature, 

 they keep company with the domestic cattle, and hardly shufile out 

 of our path; nay, the Gander is a very ban-dog; noisy, gabbUng, 

 and vociferous, he gives notice of the stranger's approach, is often the 

 terror of the meddling school-boy, in defence of his fostered brood ; 

 and it is reported of antiquity, that by their usual garrulity and 

 watchfulness, they once saved the Roman capitol. Not only is the 

 disposition of these birds changed by domestication, but even their 

 strong instinct to migration, or wandering longings, are v^-holly 

 annihilated. Instead of joining the airy phalanx which wing their 

 way to distant regions, they grovel contented in the perpetual 

 abundance attendant on their willing slavery. If instinct can thus 

 be destroyed or merged in artificial circumstances, need we wonder 

 that this protecting and innate intelligence is capable also of another 

 change by improvement, adapted to new habits and unnatural re- 

 straints. Even without undergoing the slavery of domestication, 

 many birds become fully sensible of immunities and protection; and 

 in the same aquatic and rude family of birds, already mentioned, we 

 may quote the tame habits of the Eider Ducks. In Iceland, and 

 other countries, where they breed in such numbers, as to render 

 their valuable down an object of commerce, they are forbidden to 

 be killed under legal penalty, and, as if aware of this legislative 

 security, they sit on their eggs undisturbed at the approach of man, 

 and are entirely as familiar, during tliis season of breeding, as our 

 tamed Ducks ; nor are they apparently aware ot the cheat habitually 

 practised upon them of abstracting the down with which they line 

 their nests, though it is usually repeated until they make the third 

 attempt at incubation. If, however, the last nest, with its eggs and 

 down, to the lining of which the male is now obliged to contribute, 



* Quiscalus versicolor. 



