2 34 JOTTINGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



inherited complex mental powers in a bird vvhicli 



we cannot find in the human race. If this theory 



of Inherited Habit be true, there is just one question 



I would wish to ask its propounders. How is it 



that a human being is not able to build himself a 



residence resembling in its architecture that adopted 



by his own peculiar race — an Esquimaux his hut, 



an Indian his wigwam, a civilized man his house or 



castle of this type of architecture or of that — unless 



he has some example to copy or some instruction 



to guide him in his task ? As I said before, so I 



now say again, " If man is so helpless, why should 



not the poor lowly bird be the same ? " That birds 



are possessed of wonderful powers of memory has 



httn proved over and over again, and not memory 



alone, but powers of imitation too. Instance need 



not be given here ; they are already known to 



readers of these pages. On the other hand, what 



proof do we possess in favour of blind instinct, 



what data to support hereditary habit r — none, 



absolutely none whatever, all is inference, all the 



purest hypothesis. What evidence we can gather 



all tends to explode this theory of Inherited Habit. 



Like most new theories it is being pushed too far, 



asked to explain too much, and made to account for 



phenomena which are much more plausibly ex- 



