VI AJR. SPALDING'S OBSERVATIONS 'Ih 



00 



" When one of my little pupils was twelve days ukl, while 

 it was running about near me, it uttered the peculiar cry with 

 which fowls denote the approach of danger. I looked up, 

 and saw a hawk which was circling at a great height above 

 us. Equally striking was the effect of the voice of the hawk 

 heard for the first time. A young turkey which I took 

 possession of when he began to chirp in the still unbroken 

 egg-shell was, on the morning of the tenth day of his life, just 

 engaged in taking his breakfast out of my hand when a 

 young hawk in his box close by us uttered a clear ' cheep, 

 cheep ' ; the poor turkey shot like an arrow to the other side 

 of the room, and stood there motionless and paralysed with 

 terror till the hawk gave out a second cry, when he ran out 

 of the open door to the farthest end of the lane, and there 

 remained for ten minutes crouched in a corner. Several 

 times more in the course of the day he heard that disturbing 

 sound, and each time with the same symptoms of fear. 



" Frequently I sa\v hens lift their wings when they were 

 only a few hours old, that is, as soon as they could hold their 

 lieads upright, even wdien they were prevented from using 

 their eyes. The art of scratching for food, which one might 

 think must above everything else be acquired by imitation 

 (for a hen with her chickens spends half her time in scratch- 

 ing before them) forms nevertheless an undoubted instance of 

 instinct. Without any opportunity for imitation, chickens 

 which were kept entirely isolated began to scratch at the age 

 of tw^o to six weeks. As a rule the character of the ground 

 invited them to this ; I have often seen first attempts at it, 

 which looked like a kind of nervous dance, on a smooth 

 table. 



" As an example of unacquired skill, I can mention that 

 when I put four one-day-old ducks into the open air for the 

 first time, one of them immediately snapped at a fly and 

 €auoht it in its flicfht. But still more interesting in iny 



