PERFECTION OF INSTINCT. 163 



up, and Leliokl a sparrow-hawk was hovering at a great 

 height over head. Equally striking was the effect of the 

 hawk's voice when heard for the first time. A young turkey, 

 which I had adopted when chirping within the uncracked 

 shell, was on the morning of the tenth day of its life eating a 

 comfortable breakfast from my hand, when the young hawk, 

 in a cupboard just beside us, gave a shrill chip, chip, chip. 

 Like an arrow the poor turkey shot to the other side of the 

 room, and stood there motionless and dumb with fear, until 

 the hawk gave a second cry, when it darted out at the open 

 door right to the extreme end of the passage, and there, silent 

 and crouched in a corner, remained for ten minutes. Several 

 times during the course of that day it again heard these 

 alarming sounds, and in every instance with similar mani- 

 festations of fear." 



Again referring to young chickens, Mr. Spalding con- 

 tinues, — " Scores of times I have seen them attempt to 

 dress their wings when only a few hours old — indeed as soon 

 as they could hold up their heads, and even when denied the 

 use of their eyes. The art of scraping in search of food, 

 wdiich, if anything, might be acquired by imitation — for a hen 

 wdth chickens spends the half of her time in scratching for 

 them — is nevertheless another indisputable case of instinct. 

 Without any opportunities of imitation, when kept quite 

 isolated from their kind, chickens began to scrape wdien from 

 two to six days old. Generally, the condition of the ground 

 was suggestive; but I have several times seen the first 

 attempt, which consists of a sort of nervous dance, made on 

 a smooth table." 



In this connection I may here insert an interesting obser- 

 vation which has been communicated to me by Dr. Allen 

 Thomson, F.E.S. He hatched out some chickens on a carpet, 

 where he kept them for several days. They showed no 

 inclination to scrape, because the stimulus supplied by the 

 carpet to the soles of their feet was of too novel a character 

 to call into action the hereditary instinct; but when 

 Dr. Thomson sprinkled a little gravel on the carpet, and so 

 supplied the appropriate or customary stimulus, the chickens 

 immediately began their scraping movements. 



But to return to Mr. Spalding's experiments, he says : — 



" As an example of unacquired dexterity, I may mention 

 that on placing four ducklings a day old in the open air for 



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