. 139 



*' instinctively " select the various forms of alcoholic 

 drinks in preference to those of less seductive attrac- 

 tiveness. But be all this as it may, it is very certain 

 that under no circumstances whatever can birds be "in- 

 stinctively aware of the fact" that ^<g% is injurious to 

 them, as it is sought to make us believe they would 

 be if it were so, in the vain hope of persuading us 

 that its opponents are wrong. Instinct — avoiding 

 terminological technicalities — may be described as 

 that elementary amount of quasi-intelligence wath 

 regard to certain actions which is hereditarily handed 

 down, and which is independent of education and its 

 resulting conscious intention. Lamarck sums it up as 

 "race habit." Where then does the instinct come in 

 which would prompt a captive wild bird to select that to 

 which none of his ancestors ever had access — hard 

 boiled ^%% ? The idea is preposterous. The bird 

 simply likes ^g% as certain people like pate de foie 

 gras, — but, while the latter are generally advised not 

 to rear their infants on a diet of diseased goose livers, 

 the former are being encouraged in the foolishness of 

 rearing their chicks on a food, which physiologically 

 is equally harmful as daily diet, if indeed not more so. 



■ IN MEMORIAM :— My readers will regret to hear 

 of the loss we have sustained by the death on the 5th 

 inst. of our old friend Mr. WiENER. Born sixty- 

 eight years ago, the deceased gentleman has been 

 identified during the greater part of his life with 

 Aviculture, and in many ways has been no incon- 

 siderable power in the advancement of the science to 

 its present position. Twenty-five years ago he was 

 one of the joint-authors of the " Book of Canaries and 



