72 INSTINCT AND REASON. 



hood, nevertheless continue to feed them if they are tied 

 to the nest, or confined within a cage, or by any other 

 means appear to he out of a condition of supplying their 

 own necessities. He observes, that the brood-hen will 

 leave her eggs longer in summer than in winter, because 

 in summer they will cool less speedily. But apart from 

 the ingenuity necessary for the propagation of the spe- 

 cies, he considers the same bird to be a very idiot, with- 

 out the least glimmering of thought or common sense, 

 mistaking a piece of chalk for an egg, and sitting upon 

 it as though it were one, insensible of an increase or 

 diminution in the number of those she lays, not distin- 

 guishing between her own and those of another species ; 

 and when the birth appears of never so different a bird, 

 cherishing it for her own. 



It is curious that we should abuse the hen for being 

 now and then deceived by our impostures, considering 

 the immense quantities of counterfeit coin we ourselves 

 accept as currency, and the strange compounds of chalk 

 and mud and alum and poisonous herbs and minerals 

 which, according to the analysts, we contentedly swal- 

 low down as milk and butter, bread and beer. But the 

 hen in a wild state is not subject to our impositions, and 

 possibly the domestic hen finds it better for herself to 

 overlook them. At any rate, as the mistakes concern 

 her progeny, if her conduct is other than beneficial, it is 

 an argument against the perfection of instinct, which it 

 tends to bring down to the level of imperfect human 

 reason. It is commonly supposed that ducklings take 

 to the water by instinct. And Addison tells us that on 



