THE SWALLOW. 255 



built, which stood perfectly well, although the heat of the 

 kiln had by no means abated ; and in this nest the Swallows 

 hatched and brought up their young. The following year 

 another nest was begun and finished in the same spot, and 

 with the same heat in the kiln, which stood the influence of 

 the fire, and in which the Swallows hatched and reared their 

 brood ; and this was done in the same manner on the third 

 year. The fourth year the Swallows did not appear, which 

 the lime-burner considered as very ominous of the future suc- 

 cess of his kiln. They had probably been destroyed. 



In reading the above account, of the accuracy of which no 

 doubt need be entertained, as the most satisfactory proof of it 

 can at any time be brought forward, it is impossible not to be 

 struck with the following facts. 



1st. The Swallows must have discovered and worked up a 

 sort of clay or earth which would stand heat. 



2d. Instinct alone would not have taught them to do this. 



3d. On returning to the kiln the second and third years, 

 they must have kept in their recollection not only the fact, 

 that the earth they commonly used to build their nests with 

 would not stand heat, but must also have remembered the 

 sort of earth or clay which was requisite, and the necessity of 

 their making use of it in that particular place. 



Those persons, who are inclined to agree that mere instinct 

 could have taught Swallows to perform what has been here 

 related, are not, I think, doing justice to the sense and intelli- 

 gence of these interesting birds. If reason did not influence 

 their operations, it was something very nearly allied to it ; 

 but where that alliance begins and ends, is a question which 

 it is not easy to answer. Mr. White says, that philosophers 

 have defined instinct, to be that secret influence by which every 

 species is impelled naturally to pursue, at all times, the same 

 way or tract, without any teaching or example ; whereas 

 reason, without instruction, would often vary, and do that by 

 many methods, which instinct effects by one alone. If this 

 definition of the difference between instinct and reason is cor- 

 rect, the instance which I have just related respecting the 



