"^o6 J ^" Cuckoos and Migration i)i Birds. i r j 



and this is not surprising, as its ear has ah-eady to a small extent 

 been used within the shell. During the next 6 hours the chick 

 gradually gains strength and practice enough to run, and also 

 begins to peck at the ground, but blindly and senselessly ; for it 

 pecks at everything which reaches the eye, such as httle lumps of 

 earth, heads of nails knocked into boards, grains of sand and glass 

 beads, and even at mere bright specks. This is done also by grown 

 poultry, which are frequently seen to peck at the ground although 

 there is nothing to pick up. Even poultry from which the cere- 

 brum has been removed, and which are therefore without con- 

 sciousness and without feeling, strike mechanically with their beaks 

 on the ground without picking up corn, just as human babies try 

 to put into their mouths whatever is given them. Personally I 

 have repeatedly observed at Sparrow-shooting matches in Mel- 

 bourne that whenever a Sparrow has been shot only through the 

 cerebrum it flies down or falls down and then stands up and picks 

 mechanically at the ground. It ought not, therefore, to be sur- 

 prising that chickens should do the same as babies, especially when 

 imitation of the pecking mother comes into play. The imitative- 

 ness and the teaching of the mother have a large share in the whole 

 concern, which is proved by the fact that the whole recorded process, 

 until the chick is able to run and feed itself, takes only from 5 to 8 

 hours if it remains with and under the care of the mother, while 

 it takes from 8 to 16 hours if the chick be taken away from the 

 mother after hatching. Then, again, the young chicks before 

 they are born can be heard cheeping inside the shell, and should 

 the mother give a warning note on approach of danger, the cheeping 

 instantly ceases, and when all danger is passed the cheeping is 

 resumed. Therefore is it possible that an unborn foetus can reason, 

 or even be trained ? One cannot blindly attribute the action of a 

 foetus to instinct or reason whilst covered in by the shell from all 

 external influences except those conveyed by osmosis. The only 

 stimulus obtainable by osmosis would be given externally to the 

 nerves of the skin. How often, as a boy, have I taken a chicken 

 and by placing it on my knee and putting its head under its wing, 

 caused it to go to sleep in response to the stimulus thus applied. 

 Ducklings go through their initial stages almost the same as a 

 chicken. When they have gradually learned to drink they peck 

 at a shining wet surface as if it were water. Placed in a pond, they 

 try to get out as fast as possible, and make active movements with 

 their legs which teach them to swim. When ducklings reach dry 

 land they shake themselves and try to clean off the water. The 

 same thing happens if given milk to swim in. These incidents go 

 to prove that Ducks have no instinctive love for water, and it has 

 been observed that Geese have been known to push their goslings 

 into water, as also Wild Ducks have been known to carry their 

 young on their back when taking them from the nest, miles away 

 from water, and depositing them in it. The stimulus of the water 

 to their legs causes them to ])addle with them and so swim, whilst 

 the down causes them to unconsciously float, which clearly proves 



