2 FREDERICK S. BREED 



discussed in connection with the results of a study of the reac- 

 tion reported later in the paper. 



Spalding's ' observations on the pecking reaction have been 

 quoted widely. Concerning the pecking of his chicks he says : 

 "They did not attempt to seize- things beyond their reach, as 

 babies are said to grasp at the moon; and they may be said to 

 have invariably hit the objects at which they struck — they never 

 missed by more than a hair's breadth, and that too, when the 

 specks at which they aimed were no bigger, and less visible, 

 than the smallest dot of an i. To seize between the points of 

 the mandibles at the very instant of striking seemed a more 

 difficult operation. I have seen a chicken seize and swallow an 

 insect at the first attempt; most frequently, however, they 

 struck five or six times, lifting once or twice before they suc- 

 ceeded in swallowing their first food." {Italics mine.) 



On the question of the accuracy of the pecking of chicks, 

 Preyer ^ disagrees with Spalding. " I cannot admit," he says, 

 " the supposed infallibility to within a hair's breadth. They 

 miss in pecking by as much as two millimeters, though seldom. 

 On the other hand, the attempts at swallowing frequently fail. 

 Here it should be considered that even grown fowls are not sure 

 in their pecking, seizing, and swallowing, as any one that ob- 

 serves closely may easily perceive. The accuracy is, however, 

 marvelous at the very beginning^ {Italics mine.) 



Romanes, =* though reporting no experimental work of his 

 own, deserves notice on account of his wide influence. He 

 quotes Spalding extensively and with approval. For Romanes, 

 perfection as applied to instinct means perfect adaptation in- 

 dependent of individual experience. He illustrates such perfec- 

 tion " by considering the wonderful accuracy of many among the 

 highly refined and complex adjustments which are manifested by 

 the newly-born young of the higher animals," (italics mine), 

 citing first in his list of examples of perfection the pecking reac- 

 tion of chicks as reported by Spalding. 



Eimer ' experimented on chicks during two different years. 

 The impression he got of the accuracy of pecking appears in the 



1 Spalding, D. A.: Instinct. With original observations on young animals. 

 MacmiUan's Mag., 1873, vol. 27, p. 284. 



= Preyer, W.: The senses and the will. (1881.) Tr., New York, 1890, p. 67. 

 3 Romanes, G. J.: Mental evolution in animals. . New York, 1884, p. 161. 

 ^ Eimer, G. H. T.: Organic evolution. Tr., London, 1890, p. 246. 



