• SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 155 



a higher development of tliis emotion than to any other creatures 

 below man. Reptiles can be trained to know their keeper, and 

 an alligator will defend her buried eggs ; dogs are unusually 

 affectionate animals, and the higher monkeys have many sym- 

 pathetic habits and emotions, but birds lead them all. This is 

 not remarkable when we consider the wonderfully important 

 place which the family holds in this class of vertebrates. The 

 building of the nest, the comparatively long incubation of the 

 eggs, and the patient feeding and complex education of the young 

 birds all are duties in which both parents often share. It is this 

 continued association, this "bridging over of generations," which 

 has made sympathy so prominent a factor in the minds of birds. 

 In what other class of animals are vocal signals of fear, distress, 

 or terror so widely understood, or so willingly met with efforts 

 of assistance? 



To me it seems puerile to try to believe that a bird's affection 

 for her young, so great that she will often give her life in their 

 defense, can be correlated with an instinct, using that word in 

 the common acceptance of the term. It is no more an instinct 

 in the sense of an uncontrollable emotion than is the analogous 

 action of an heroic human being. Altruism, pure and simple, 

 has governed the action of more than one bird under my obser- 

 vation during the past year, and that, too, in some instances, 

 between birds of different species. Three instances come to 

 mind : a female red-winged blackbird which carried a mouthful 

 of worms to a nestful of young red-wings near by, before passing 

 on to brood her own eggs, as yet unhatched ; a loon which volun- 

 tarily risked his life to free a pied-billed grebe from a nearly 

 fatal ice-trap ; and a great crowned pigeon which assumed the 

 care of and sheltered a nestling ring-dove deserted by its parents. 



Another aspect of the mental processes of birds shows us ex- 

 amples of revenge being taken after long and patient waiting 

 for a favorable opportunity, while on the other hand crows have 

 been known again and again to sit in judgment upon one of their 

 number, and to sentence and punish it with death. 



The language of birds is most complex, and all, from the mar- 

 vellous song of the nightingale and the imitative powers of the 

 mocking-bird, to the many moods and feelings reflected in the 

 apparently meaningless chirps of our city sparrows, tell of men- 

 tal powers striving for expression. 



In man the various emotions depend upon language and the 

 range of expression of the face for their outward demonstra- 

 tion, and it is interesting to compare with this the state of affairs 



