oo(J Townsend, Courtship in Birds. [july 



help she gave to the people about her who needed it — rich as well 

 as poor — will be remembered as long as those who knew her shall 

 live. Some tributes to her greatness have been printed — but no 

 words, written or spoken, can ever tell of all the good she did. 



288 E. Fifteenth St., New York, N. Y. 



COURTSHIP IN BIRDS. 



BY CHAKLES W. TOWNSEND, M. D. 



The difference between the mentality of birds and of man is 

 enormous and we must be on our guard against imputing purely 

 human motive to the lower animals. On the other hand the 

 difference between man and the lower animals in many important 

 matters is not one of kind, but one merely of degree. 



A gull will drag a dried fish from the upper beach to the water 

 to soften it before eating, a grackle will dip a tough bit of biscuit 

 in the water for the same purpose, and a man will soften a hard 

 crust in his coffee. How much is sub-conscious instinct or reflex 

 action in some or all of these cases and how much is self-conscious 

 reasoning and forethought — it is not my purpose to discuss here. 

 To call it instinct in all cases in the lower animals and reason in 

 all cases in man may possibly savor of conceit. 



The desire to live, to obtain food and to mate are primitive 

 inborn instincts common to both the lower animals and to man. 

 To gratify these instincts similar actions are resorted to by both 

 the lower animals and man. The actions of a child desiring food 

 from a table and those of a dog under the same circumstances 

 are very much alike. Each appeals by voice and actions for 

 the food, each is anxious to please the owner of the food, and 

 each — unless the point has been reached in its experience of life 

 when it fears the consequences of unlawful acts — will avail itself 

 of an opportunity to surreptitiously snatch the food. 



In the same way the desire of the male bird to please the female 

 more than its rivals please the same bird appeals to us as a very 



