536 THE EVOLUTION OF MIND 



by skuas or by l hooligan ' cocks (idle bachelors and wicked 

 widowers) the parents "pool their offspring" in groups, 

 which are left in charge of a few conscientious philo-progeni- 

 tive persons (there is great individuality among the members 

 of the penguinery), who ward off the skuas and do their best 

 to keep the chicks from straying. The holidaying parents 

 bring food at intervals when their conscience smites them 

 and they remain loyal to their own creches. If a story like 

 this stood alone we would think that the generous interpreta- 

 tion we have hinted at was mistaken, but there are a great 

 many stories of this sort, so many that the apsychic theory 

 of the laboratory-naturalists begins to appear like a super- 

 stition. 



Living creatures are often treated too generously, for they 

 are extraordinarily limited in many ways. This is peculiarly 

 true when instinctive capacities are strong. With different 

 individuals of the now extinct Passenger Pigeon, Professor 

 Whitman made the simple experiment of removing the eggs 

 a few inches outside the nest. The bird returning sat down 

 in the nest as if nothing had happened ; seemed to feel dimly, 

 however, that something was wrong; she missed something, 

 she knew not what, for she showed no interest in the two 

 eggs lying within reach ; after a few minutes she flew away. 

 Of course we must not be too hard on her, for even rational 

 social personalities sometimes behave in a quite extraor- 

 dinarily stupid way when their routine is disturbed. 



But our recognition of the limitedness that often marks 

 the animal must not be allowed to become an obsession, and 

 we venture to think that there is a good deal to be said for the 

 common-sense view which credits the big-brained type, where 

 instincts are not dominant and where educability is well- 

 marked, with the analogues of our perceptual inference, our 



