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3ntelli^cnce in Bir&6 auD otber Hntmals. 



By R. H. CI.ARKE, M.A., M.B. 



There are a few more observations I may perhaps 

 be allowed to make on the subject I referred to last 

 month, and I will anticipate a probable objection, that 

 I am going beyond the generally recognised limits of 

 ornithology, by saying that if such matters are foreign 

 to ornithology I don't think the}^ ought to be, and I 

 will give my reasons, premising however that my 

 explanation is addressed to those who breed or keep 

 birds not as "fanciers" for the market and the show 

 room, but as genuine amateurs, whose pleasure it is to 

 study their pets without considering their value in 

 cash or prizes. To such people the exhibition of 

 character and intelligence in their animals is always 

 interesting, and I do not suppose that their interest is 

 diminished by realising that many traits which appear 

 simple, and even commonplace, may be of scientific 

 value. 



In the first place, experience shows that progress 

 in biology depends upon the simultaneous stud}^ of 

 structure and function ; it is no use pursuing one with- 

 out the other; and at the present time there is a 

 tendency for the investigation of the structures of the 

 nervous centres to outstrip the study of their functions. 

 Then there is a peculiarity about intelligent acts, that 

 they require to be performed naturally and sponta- 

 neously ; they cannot be reproduced at will like many 

 physiological functions under the conditions of an 

 artificial experiment, and the opportunities of ob- 

 serving them may only occur to those who can spend 

 long hours in watching their animals in fairly natural 

 conditions. Partly from such difficulties, and also from 



