248 Plabit and Instinct. 



Passing on, therefore, to the instincts associated with 

 the consummation and natural result of the maternal act, 

 the hatching out of the young, what seems most 

 remarkable is that under the new conditions the bird 

 becomes in many respects a new being. Compare the hen 

 with her first newly hatched brood with what she was some 

 three weeks before. Her maternity tinges all her behaviour ; 

 she is not what she was, or rather she is that and vastly 

 more besides. Untaught, she is a mother to the backbone ; 

 and she has developed a new language in which to commu- 

 nicate with her chicks that is, if the word "language" 

 be used somewhat loosely for a set of definite sounds of 

 emotionally suggestive value. The facts are so familiar, 

 and the explanation on natural selection principles so 

 adequate, that it is unnecessary to dwell on them. It will 

 be better to select a specialized instinct of this period for 

 more careful consideration. 



It is well known that the peewit lapwing or plover will 

 apparently simulate the actions of a wounded bird, with the 

 object, as it would seem, of drawing intruders away from her 

 nest and eggs or young. The Canadian ruffed grouse, and 

 the willow ptarmigan, tumble along, seemingly well-nigh 

 helpless, and lead off dog or man. Dr. W. L. Kalph,* 

 writing of the American ground dove, a pretty little pigeon 

 of the Southern States, says : " When one is driven from a 

 nest containing eggs it will drop to the ground as if shot, 

 and will then flutter around as if wounded, to try to draw 

 the person disturbing it away from the nest, but, whether it 

 succeeds or not, it will soon fly off. When a nest contains 

 young, however, the bird will become almost frantic, until 

 it appears to be nearly exhausted." Here it is the female 

 bird that exhibits such careful tactics. But sometimes the 

 male shows a like solicitude. "In 1883," says Mr. C. A. 



* Nineteenth Century, April, 1893, p. 598. 



