the true nature of Instinct. 17 



strange nests, belonging to these little lairds ; for she never builds 

 herself: she acts, in fact, as if she calculated exactly what should 

 and what would be done by others, for the rearing of her progeny. 

 Another very curious circumstance noticed by Dr. Jcnner, in con- 

 nection with his remarks on the natural history of the cuckoo, is 

 the power exercised by birds, — which, he says, may arise from 

 " some hidden cause in the animal economy " — either of retarding 

 or of accelerating the production of their eggs, according to cir- 

 cumstances. Moral and intellectual design and active energy, 

 above the conscious faculties of the creature, is surely evident in 

 all this ; for the creature is not a mere piece of mechanism, but 

 has a manifest conscious freedom in the performance of its peculiar 

 natural acts ; but which freedom is thus as manifestly controlled 

 by superior influences, of which it is unconscious. How, other- 

 wise, can we possibly account for the incessant endeavours of the 

 young cuckoo to dislodge its fellow inmates of the uest, while, as 

 yet, it has scarcely extricated itself from the egg : it cannot re- 

 flect upon the necessity of its operations either for ultimate preser- 

 vation, or for present convenience; yet it acts as if it did, and takes 

 the most effectual means for the accomplishment of those ends. 

 Will those who attribute design to such actions, say, that the de- 

 sign of taking the immediate steps necessary for the preservation of 

 the creature can reside within its own consciousness ? It surely 

 cannot. — The final purposes which are the primary motives of its 

 actions, are far above what it can either conceive or survey ; 

 otherwise the cuckoo must indeed be a " rara avis in terris," a 

 feathered philosopher of no mean or despicable talent; 



One of the strongest instances of apparent moral sagacity, is that 

 well-known one recorded of the Elephant, which is said to have 

 taken place in Delhi. An Elephant having killed his Coruac or go- 

 vernor, it is related that the man's wife, in despair, threw her two 

 children before the animal, saying, " now you have destroyed 

 their father, you may as well put an end to their lives and mine," 

 — upon which the animal, relenting, and taking up the biggest of 

 the children with his trunk, placed him upon his neck, and hav- 

 ing thus adopted him for his Coruac, would never afterwards per- 

 mit any other person to mount him. In this case we cannot suppose 



Vol. I. b 



