UNIFORMITY OF INSTINCT. 17 



evidently result from observation and instruction, 

 indicating an intelligent power of combining means, 

 and adapting them to ends of which the creature is 

 conscious, these actions come within the province of 

 reason. Addison, in speaking of instinct, remarks, 

 ' I look upon instinct as upon the principle of gravi- 

 tation in bodies, which is not to be explained by any 

 known qualities inherent in the bodies themselves, 

 nor from any laws of mechanism ; but, according to the 

 best notions of the greatest philosophers, is an imme- 

 diate impression from the first Mover, and the Divine 

 energy acting in the creatures : 



For reason raise o'er instinct as you can, 

 In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man.^ 



" The exact limits of instinct are difficult to de- 

 fine, as the sagacity of animals often approaches to 

 reason, and appears to outstep that faculty, which 

 forms part of their nature, and impels them to certain 

 actions that are essential to their well-being, or that 

 of their offspring. In animals of the same species, 

 instinct is invariably the same ; though the individuals 

 that compose it have never had an opportunity of 

 learning it from example. A canary-bird hatched in 

 a cage, builds a nest as similar to those formed by 

 canary-birds in their native woods, as she can with 

 the materials that are given her; yet she has seen 

 none of those of her own species for a model. 



c 



