377 



thoughtfully devised, may be kept without much trouble or taking 

 \ip much time. It maybe done almost entirely by signs and symbols ; 

 and as a specimen of such a Journal, or rather note-book, 1 would 

 refer to a paper by Professor Alfred Newton in the " Transactions 

 of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalist's Society for 1870-71," t 

 in which he has given full details respecting one kept by himself 

 for ten years, accompanied by a lithographed copy of two pages of 

 the Eegister, so as to present to the eye the arrangement of the 

 entries, and the particular symbols used for the different kinds of 

 observations. Moreover, to show the value of such a Journal, he 

 states that the very first autumn of his using it he ascertained a 

 new fact respecting the Song Thrush, which the observations of 

 succeeding years fully confirmed, viz., that this species "was 

 one of the most regular migrants among birds," disappearing in 

 November, and reappearing the end of January or the beginning 

 of February ; " a fact which although well known on the continent 

 had never been suspected by any English Ornithologist." This 

 shows how much there is yet to be learned respecting our native 

 animals, if naturalists will only take up the inquiry in some such 

 way as Professor Newton has done. 



But even in the case of species thought to be the best understood 

 differences of character are noticeable in different localities ; nay, 

 in the veiy same locality many changes will occur in the habits and 

 instincts of certain animals with the lapse of years. Instincts 

 have often been considei'ed as invariable. With many persons the 

 very idea of instinct is that of a blind impulsion prompting animals 

 to move always in one beaten track, to work by a rule for the 

 supply of life's wants which never fails, and from which there is no de- 

 viation, — a rule they never leamt, and which their offspring equally 

 observe without any teaching from their parents. It is now, how- 

 ever, getting to be more and more allowed, as Zoological Science 

 advances, that this is not the case. Instincts do vaiy, and not 

 only this ; they are sometimes at fault. Mr. Maclachan mentions 

 the case of a caddis worm, which, when attaching itself to the 

 stem of an aquatic plant, previous to assuming the pupa form, in 

 accordance with its usual habits, did not make allowance for the 

 t p. 24. 



