204 Habit and Instinct. 



" shamming dead," must be as different as can well be 

 imagined from those associated with scuttling off at full 

 speed. And yet one would suppose that there is much 

 community in the emotion experienced; just as there is 

 in the case of a schoolboy who first hides from the bully 

 whose approach he fears, and then runs off as fast as his 

 legs can carry him. Speaking from personal recollection 

 of the latter case, I am disposed to refer this community 

 of emotional tone to a painful affection of the heart and 

 breathing, a dryness of the mouth, and a terrible sinking 

 in the pit of the stomach with all sorts of unpleasantly, 

 creepy feelings in the skin and tissues generally. And I 

 expect the land-rail feels uncommonly queer in his gizzard, 

 both when he " shams dead " and when he scuttles away. 

 But of course, not being a land-rail, I cannot affect to speak 

 with any certainty as to his emotions. 



One more case in point may be given. The Duke of 

 Argyll once disturbed, on a Scotch loch, a dun-diver or 

 female of the red-breasted merganser (Mergus serratus), 

 with her brood of ducklings, and gave chase in a boat. 

 But the little birds, not more than a fortnight old, eluded 

 their pursuers by swimming and diving. " At last * one of 

 the brood made for the shore ... we pursued it as quickly 

 as we could, but when the little bird gained the shore, our 

 boat was still about twenty yards off. Long drought had 

 left a broad margin of small flat stones and mud between 

 the water and the usual bank. I saw the little bird run up 

 a couple of yards from the water, and then suddenly dis- 

 appear. Knowing what was likely to be enacted, I kept 

 my eye fixed on the spot, and when the boat was run upon 

 the beach, I proceeded to find and pick up the chick. But 

 on reaching the place of disappearance, no signs of the 

 young merganser was to be seen. The closest scrutiny, 



* Contemporary Review, July, 1874. 



