IN SUMMER FIELDS. 29 



the most attentive observers. Must we not 

 conclude that there are elements in the butter- 

 fly's feeble brain exactly answering to the 

 blank picture of its specific type ? So, too, 

 must we not suppose that in every race of 

 animals there arises a perceptive structure 

 specially adapted to the recognition of its 

 own kind ? Babies notice human faces long 

 before they notice any other living thing. 

 In like manner we know that most creatures 

 can judge instinctively of their proper food. 

 One young bird just fledged naturally pecks 

 at red berries ; another exhibits an untaught 

 desire to chase down grasshoppers ; a third, 

 which happens to be born an owl, turns at 

 once to the congenial pursuit of small spar- 

 rows, mice, and frogs. Each species seems 

 to have certain faculties so arranged that the 

 sight of certain external objects, frequently 

 connected with food in their ancestral experi- 

 ence, immediately arouses in them the appro- 

 priate actions for its capture. Mr. Douglas 

 Spalding found that newly-hatched chickens 



