162 MENTAL EVOLUTION IN ANIMALS. 



which they struck — they never missed by more than a hair's 

 breadth, and that, too, when the specks at which they aimed 

 were no bigger, and less visible, than the smallest dot of an i. 

 To seize between the points of the mandibles at the very 

 instant of striking seemed a more difficult operation. I have 

 seen a chicken seize and swallow an insect at the first 

 attempt ; most frequently, however, they struck five or six 

 times, lifting once or twice before they succeeded in swallow- 

 ing their first food. The unacquired power of following by 

 sight was very plainly exemplified in the case of a chicken 

 that, after being unhooded, sat complaining and motionless 

 for six minutes, when I placed my hand on it for a few 

 seconds. On removing my hand the chicken immediately 

 followed it by sight backward and forward, and all round the 

 table. To take, by way of example, the observations in a 

 single case a little in detail : — A chicken that had been made 

 the subject of experiments on hearing, was unhooded when 

 nearly three days old. For six minutes it sat chirping and 

 looking about it ; at the end of that time it followed with its 

 head and eyes the movements of a fly twelve inches distant ; 

 at ten minutes it made a peck at its own toes, and the next 

 instant it made a vigorous dart at the fly, which had come 

 within reach of its neck, and seized and swallowed it at the 

 first stroke ; for seven minutes more it sat calling and looking 

 about it, when a hive-bee coming sufficiently near was seized 

 at a dart and thrown some distance, much disabled. For 

 twenty minutes it sat on the spot where its eyes had been 

 unveiled without attempting to walk a step. It was then 

 placed on rough ground within sight and call of a hen with a 

 brood of its own age. After standing chirping for about a 

 minute, it started off towards the hen, displaying as keen a 

 perception of the qualities of the outer world as it was ever 

 likely to possess in after life. It never required to knock its 

 head against a stone to discover that there was ' no road that 

 way.' It leaped over the smaller obstacles that lay in its 

 path and ran round the larger, reaching the mother in as 

 nearly a straight line as the nature of the ground would per- 

 mit. This, let it be remembered, was the first time it had 

 ever walked by sight." 



Further, " When twelve days old one of my little proteges, 

 while running about beside me, gave the peculiar chirr 

 whereby they announce the approach of danger. I looked 



