xin INSTINCT AND REASON 343 



But the system has not been brought to perfection, for 

 a number of eggs are dropped anywhere about the 

 country. It is believed that Ostriches, too, make a 

 nest that is common to several hen birds. 1 Certainly 

 the cock bird sits on the eggs and tends the young, 

 and this is also true of the Emeu and the Cassowary. 

 The New Zealand Apteryx, however, lays only one egg 

 and sits upon it herself. 2 



The Death-feigning Inst i net. 



The death-feigning or wound-feigning instinct is 

 very well developed in some birds. The Canadian 

 Ruffed Grouse rises with a loud whirr, then tumbles in 

 front of the pursuing dog, who never thinks of the 

 young and goes after the mother whom he imagines 

 wounded. If the Willow Ptarmigan be approached 

 she crouches to the ground among her brood, and if 

 she sees that she cannot escape notice, she rolls and 

 tumbles along as though mortally injured. 3 The 

 Spotted Tinnamou, or common Partridge of the 

 Pampas, when captured, after a few violent struggles 

 to escape, drops his head, gasps two or three times, and 

 to all appearance dies. 4 The Corncrake is very good 

 at the art. He has sometimes been put in a sports- 

 man's pocket, apparently quite dead, and when his 



1 See Darwin's Journal of Researches, chap. v. 



2 See a paper by Mr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., in the Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society, June 9th, 1863. 



3 See an article by Air. John Worth in the Nineteenth Century, 

 April 1893. 



4 See Hudson's Naturalist in La Plata, p. 204. 



