27S WALLACE CRAIG 



A very young bird, even a nestling, will swallow copiously 

 if it is taken in the hand and held with the bill submerged in 

 water. 



CONCLUSIONS 



(i) The innate drinking activity of pigeons consists of bend- 

 ing the head down low and swallowing. 



(2) The drinking reflex probably has no innate afferent 

 inlet 3 except that of the touch of water on the inside of the 

 mouth. The dove does not instinctively give a drinking response 

 to the sight or sound of water, nor to the touch of water on 

 distal parts of the body. The drawing back when the tip of 

 the bill touches the w r ater is especially interesting. The young 

 dove first gets its bill into water, probably, chiefly by pecking; 

 either pecking at objects in the water which attract its attention, 

 or pecking in imitation of old birds. 



(3) It is true that the young dove sometimes made a sudden 

 response apparently to a beam of light on the water or to the 

 touch of water on the feet. But these stimuli were not always 

 effective; when they were effective, I judge that it was merely 

 by catching the bird's attention. Pigeons, like jackdaws and 

 bower-birds, are accustomed to peck at glistening objects. 



(4) Though doves instinctively imitate pecking, they do not 

 instinctively imitate drinking as such. 



(5) The dove which was studied in most detail, dove No. 43, 

 in drinking the second time (31st day) and the third time (32nd 

 day) showed no evidence of remembering the first experience 

 (30th day). But the fourth time (33rd day), and in all instances 

 thereafter, it showed clear evidence of memory. 



(6) In the course of experience the do' e may associate the 

 drinking reflex with all sorts of stimuli. Nos. 43 and 46 both 

 associated it especially with the dish in which water was given 

 and with the person who brought the dish. Even after much 

 experience the dove may not recognize water as such. 



(7) Doves which had imperfectly formed drinking associa- 

 tions frequently anticipated the reward of their efforts by making 

 drinking movements before going to the water. This throws an 

 interesting light on the purposiveness of animal behavior, and 

 I hope to refer to it in another article. 



3 This term I take from McDougall, William. An Introduction to Social Psychol- 

 ogy. Boston, 1909. 



