290 Humane Robins. 



young robin ; to our ears the querulous cry of one 

 for food is confusingly like that of another : yet the 

 various parent birds easily distinguish, recognize, 

 and feed their own young. Then to suppose that, 

 with such powers of observation with the keenness 

 of vision that can detect an insect or a worm moving 

 in the grass from a branch twenty feet or more 

 above it, and detect it while to all appearance en- 

 gaged in watching your approach to suppose that 

 the robin does not know that the cuckoo is not of its 

 order is past credit. The robin is much too intelli- 

 gent. Why, then, does he feed the intruder? There 

 is something here approaching to the sentiment of 

 humanitj', as we should call it, towards the fellow- 

 creature. 



The cuckoo remained in the cage for some time 

 after it had attained sufficient size to shift for itself, 

 but the robins did not desert it : they clearly under- 

 stood that while thus confined it had no power of ob- 

 taining food and must starve. Unfortunately, a cat 

 at last discovered the cuckoo, which was found on 

 the ground dead but not eaten. The robins came to 

 the spot afterwards not with food, but as if they 

 missed their charge. 



The easy explanation of a blind instinct is not 

 satisfactory to me. On the other hand, the doctrine 

 of heredity hardly explains the facts, because how 

 few birds' ancestors can have had experience in 

 cuckoo-rearing? There is no analogy with the cases 

 of goats and other animals suckling strange species ; 

 because in those instances there is the motive at all 

 events in the beginning of relief from the painful 

 pressure of the milk. But the robins had no such 



