294 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 
(Tyrannus tyrannus), captured 2nd July, as it was 
taking one of its first lessons in flight. 
As is well known, the kingbird is exclusively insec- 
tivorous, and generally captures its prey on the wing, 
though it does not refuse insects that may lurk in the 
foliage, and it may occasionally descend to the ground 
in pursuit of grasshoppers, whose movements have be- 
trayed their whereabouts. Being thus, in its activities, 
so different from the omnivorous chick, and belonging, 
moreover, to the great group of Gymnopeedes, or birds 
which, naked-born, are fed in the nest, we might expect 
certain differences from the instincts and habits of the 
precocious, downy chick. Such differences may throw 
light upon the questions of Comparative Psychology, 
though, as the material for purposes of generalisation is 
augmented, they may prove to be variations of no direct 
suggestive value. 
From 2nd to the 11th July the bird, almost inces- 
santly calling for food, was kept in the house and fed 
from the hand with shreds of meat, moist bread, and a 
few insects. Water was taken from the wet finger, not 
as a drop from the tip, but finger and all were seized, 
the subsequent motions of deglutition being the same 
as though any large morsel were being engulfed. To the 
present day (16th July) the bird has utterly refused to 
accept the pendent drop; nor could it be induced to 
peck a drop from a leaf or from the surface of any 
object whatever. 
On 11th July I offered the bird a small porcelain 
dish (such as is used for extract of beef) filled with 
water. Though hungry, and presumably thirsty, no 
effort was made towards taking the water, but the dish 
was repeatedly seized with the same eager fluttering 
that characterised the general reception of any proffered 
article, edible or not. (It was noted that the tongue 
