DO ANIMALS THINK? 217 



wish to, for it enjoys nest building. It is, of course, 

 impossible for a human being to understand the frame 

 of mind of a bird when building its first nest. The only 

 approach to it that we ever experience is when we are 

 suddenly seized with an impulse to do something un- 

 usual, and we obey the impulse and are afterwards 

 surprised at ourselves. 



There is a story told of a wealthy man who had been 

 out hunting and was returning home tired and thirsty. 

 He dismounted at a farm-house, went inside and asked 

 for a drink. While this was being obtained he noticed 

 a lot of valuable old china on the dresser : seized by a 

 sudden impulse, he knocked it all down, piece by piece, 

 with his riding whip. His hostess on her return with 

 the drink looked surprised. The hunting man smiled, 

 asked her to name the value she set on the china, sat 

 down and, there and then, wrote out a cheque for the 

 amount. 



It always seems to me that when a bird begins for the 

 first time to collect materials for a nest she must act 

 impulsively, without thinking what she is doing. Just 

 as the hunting man was seized with a sudden desire to 

 smash the crockery with his whip, so is she suddenly 

 impelled to collect twigs and build a nest. 



Another instinctive act which is apparently purpose- 

 ful is the feigning of injury by a parent bird when an 

 enemy approaches its young. Superficial observation 

 of this action leads the observer to imagine that the 

 mother bird behaves thus with deliberate intent to 

 deceive, that in so doing she consciously endeavours to 

 distract attention while her young ones are betaking 



