130 INSTINOT VY, REASON. 
‘‘We cannot say that they can have any knowledge of what they 
are doing.”” Why cannot we? And ifit comes to that, can we say 
that they have not? As far as I can see, we have not so much 
right to make this assertion, as we are justified from analogy in 
making the opposite. Did not the Crow on p. 25, and the Sheep 
on p. 26, know what they were doing? ‘When a dog goes to the 
fire on a cold night does he not know he is doing so? does he not 
know that he will be warm there? And when he whines to be 
let into the house, is he ignorant not only of the reason but also 
of the fact of his whining? I am sure if anyone told your cor- 
respondent that her pet dog or pony was only an ignorant, 
unconscious mass of animalised earth, she would feel highly 
indignant. 
Again, she asks, ‘If they had any knowledge of what they were 
doing, why should not all alike use the same care for their young?’? 
I ask, in reply, Is it necessary ? Are all their young equally sus- 
ceptible? Her question throws discredit on the Creator of the 
animals. But do all human mothers use the same care for their 
infants? The same argument applies in this case. 
Once more I quote—Why are the nests not always placed in the 
best and safest locality ? Supposing they are not, does this be- 
foken lack of Reason? Surely the question puts the argument 
wholly into my hands; were it simply Instinct, they always would 
be so placed, since this quality is said to be “ unerring.” Do we, 
the ‘“‘nobler”’ creatures (I am fond of this phrase), always put 
our domiciles in the best and safest places? If we do not, and if 
your correspondent adheres to her style of argument, then, we are 
destitute of Reason. 
In conclusion, I cannot but admire the naive and artless manner 
in which my fair opponent says “ Zt 7s quite clear that they are un- 
conscious instruments of what they perform,” when not a single 
line beyond bare assumption has been brought forward to support 
such a statement. 
Hy. ULLYErt. 
Since I wrote the above I find that some one has written an article in the 
Intellectual Observer, showing that there is something more than Instinct 
employed by birds even innest-building. Ihave not read it, and it would 
not inyalidate anything I have adyanced, 
