1 66 Habit and Instinct. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



IMITATION. 



That imitation, or what we are accustomed to regard as 

 such, is an important factor in animal life, especially 

 among gregarious animals, is scarcely open to question. 

 But the biological and psychological conditions are not 

 easy to understand. Some forms of imitation are often 

 spoken of as instinctive ; but some are voluntary, and 

 under the guidance of intelligence. It is to the latter that 

 the term " imitation," in its usual acceptation, would seem 

 to be properly applicable. And the exact nature of the 

 connection between this conscious and voluntary imitation 

 and the involuntary instinctive process to which we apply 

 the same term, requires careful consideration. Let us 

 first look at some of the facts which illustrate imitation of 

 the latter and apparently instinctive type. 



If one of a group of chicks learn by casual experience, 

 such as I have before described, to drink from a tin of 

 water, others will run up and peck at the water, and will 

 themselves drink.* A hen teaches her little ones to pick 

 up grain or other food by pecking on the ground and 

 dropping suitable materials before them, the chicks seem- 

 ing to imitate her actions. One may make chicks and 

 young pheasants peck by simulating the action of a hen 

 with a pencil-point or pair of fine forceps. According to 



* Dr. Mills records a similar observation on puppies {Tram. Boy. Soo. 

 Canada, sect. iv. (1894), p. 43. 



