Vol. III. 



1904 



From Magazines, &c. 2 A. 



that the horse took warning, turned round, and followed his 

 feathered mate. Since rain came, filling waterholes and giving 

 a spring to the grass, the Emu has relaxed in his attentions. 

 Another blind horse has joined the first, and as both are fat 

 and comfortable the feathered friend may think his attentions 

 are no longer required. — Rockhampton Bulletin, 5/10/03. 



Can and Do Birds Reason ?— Under this title Mr. F. M. 

 Littler, F.E.S., has, in a recent number of The Zoologist, tried to 

 throw some light on a question which, as a section of the problem 

 as to the dividing line between instinct and intelligence in the 

 animal world, has engaged some of the foremost minds of the 

 century, and concerning which the results arrived at are not 

 too definite. Possibly our Tasmanian observer is right in 

 considering that " in any newly-settled country or colony, where 

 environments are constantly changing, there is a wider scope 

 for observations on the intelligence of birds than in any highly 

 and long cultivated area." The local instances he cites (which 

 might be very considerably added to from Australian observa- 

 tions) both for and against the contention that birds do reason, 

 involve some knotty points. But the whole question is one 

 which will probably never be completely solved until some much 

 more intimate knowledge be possessed of mental and psychological 

 activities throughout their whole range. The conclusion Mr. 

 Littler arrives at is: — "The more the subject is investigated, the 

 firmer grows my conviction that animals (such as quadrupeds 

 and birds) which are continually associated with man . . . . 

 are possessed of an intelligence and power of reasoning, small and 

 feeble though these may be." The problem opens up a fascinating 

 field of study, and may with advantage be investigated much 

 further. Every reliable observation will be a help — even though 

 the deductions drawn therefrom be merely those of analogy. 



The Exaltation of the Sub-species.— Writing on this subject, 

 Dr. Jonathan Dwight, jun. {The Auk, vol. xxi., pp. 65, 66) says 

 that " signs are not wanting at the present time that its value 

 • • • • is impaired by the undue prominence which it has 

 attained. ... It seems to be forgotten that the sub-species 

 is only a convenient recognition of geographical variation within 

 the limits of the species. . . . We must beware lest we name 

 that which exists only in our expectant mind. ... To name 

 every degree of incipiency is pushing matters to a point when the 

 name, by overshadowing the fact, ceases to be the convenient 

 handle for which it is primarily intended. . . . We forget 

 that, as names multiply, they lose in definiteness of meaning. 

 It is not inconceivable that our successors may reduce 

 our splinters to sawdust, and bestow a name upon each and 

 every grain. . . . True science does not receive much up- 



