84 MR SELBY ON THE INSTINCT OF THE WATER-HEN. 



longer and much, narrower. The tongue is longer, weaker, and not so 

 broad. The under jaw much weaker, and the distance between its rami 

 one-third less. The teething much more delicate. 



These are the principal distinctions which a})pear iu the external 

 form and osteology of the head. In the latter every bone differs, and 

 the differences appear constant in all that I have taken to pieces ; and 

 in this state, therefore, I have no hesitation in considering the parr 

 perfectly distinct from any species or variety of trout we are acquainted 

 with, and entitled to hold a separate rank in our fauna. Prom the 

 Migratory Salmon it is separated entirely by its habits ; and I consider 

 that it should therefore stand in our systems as the Salmo Salmulus of 

 Willughby and Ray. The correct distinguishing marks to be seen by 

 a person who has not leisure to make a minute examination, are the 

 great size of the pectoral fins, the shortness of the maxillary bones, and 

 consequent small gape, and the narrow breadth between the rami of 

 the lower jaw. 



On the Instinct of the Water-Hen. By P. J. Selby, Esq. 



As the following anecdote seems to indicate a degree of intellect, or 

 an exercise of the reasoning power, in the feathered race, and apparently 

 acting in conjunction with Instinct, or that blind impulse to perform 

 certain offices or actions, for which the lower orders are remarkable, 

 and which, according to the views of one of our ablest naturalists, is 

 supposed, and with great probability, to be the result of physical 

 action upon organizations adapted to receive and respond to it, I think 

 it may not be altogether uninteresting to the Club, and may possibly 

 direct the attention of some of its members more immediately to the 

 various phenomena exhibited by the lower animals in regard to their 

 instincts, combined, or acting as it were, at times in conjunction with 

 the exercise of their reasoning or intellectual faculties. During the 

 early part of the past summer, a pair of water-hens ( Gallinula chloropus) 

 built their nest by the margin of the ornamental pond at Bell's-Hill, a 

 piece of water of considei'able extent, and ordinarily fed by a spring 

 from the height above, but into which the contents of another large 

 pond can occasionally be admitted. This was done while the female 

 vvas sitting, and as the nest had been built when the water level stood 

 low, the sudden influx of this large body of water from the second 

 pond caused a rise of several inches, so as to threaten the speedy 

 immersion and consequent destruction of the eggs. This the birds 

 seem to have been aware of, and immediately took j)recautions against 

 so imminent a danger. Por when the gardener (upon whose veracity 

 I can safely rely), seeing the sudden rise of the water, went to look 

 after the nest, expecting to find it covered, and the eggs destroyed, or 

 at least, forsaken by the hen, he observed, while at a distance, both 



