292 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 



If I have failed to understand Prof. Baldwin fully, 

 and so to appreciate his views at their full value on 

 the score of originality, I regret it. However, it is 

 likely that others are in the same case, and I venture 

 to suggest that the remedy for our denseness, if such 

 it be, is to be found in a specific and concrete treat- 

 ment of the subject. WESLEY MILLS. 



M'GiLL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL. 



THE HABIT OF DRINKING IN YOUNG BIRDS.* 



To THE EDITOR OF Science. In response to a request 

 that has just reached me, may I ask for space in your 

 columns to say that the statement I made with regard 

 to the habit of drinking in young birds was to the 

 following effect? The chicks that I have observed 

 pick instinctively at any small objects at suitable 

 distance. If a small drop of water be such an object, 

 they will peck at that. But if a shallow tin of water 

 be placed in their run the stimulus of the sight of 

 still water does not evoke any instinctive drinking 

 response. If there be grains of sands or food or 

 other objects at the bottom of the tin, they will peck 

 at these, and incidentally find the water. Sometimes 

 they will peck at a bubble on the brim. Sometimes, 



* As Prof. Morgan explained, in a communication to Science, he 

 refrained from taking an active part in this discussion because he was 

 engaged at the time on his " Habit and Instinct," in which the subject 

 was to be fully considered. Since then that work has appeared, and 

 in acute, philosophical insight, clearness, and general charm of treat- 

 ment, is equal to anything that has yet come from this able writer's 

 pen. In this work he has also, in the most generous way, acknow- 

 ledged the contributions of myself and others to the subject under 

 consideration. W. M. 



