332 BIOLOGICAL LECTURES. 



in which there can be no doubt about the automatic character 

 of the activities. These conditions are perfectly fulfilled in 

 the pigeons, a group in which we have the further advantage 

 that wild and domestic species can be studied comparatively. 



It is quite certain that pigeons are totally blind to the 

 meanings which we discover in incubation. They follow the 

 impulse to sit without a thought of consequences ; and no 

 matter how many times the act has been performed, no idea 

 of young pigeons ever enters into the act. 1 They sit because 

 they feel like it, begin when they feel impelled to do so, and 

 stop when the feeling is satisfied. Their time is generally 

 correct, but they measure it as blindly as a child measures its 

 hours of sleep. A bird that sits after failing to lay an egg, or 

 after its eggs have been removed, is not acting from " expecta- 

 tion," but because she finds it agreeable to do so and disagree- 

 able not to do so. The same holds true of the feeding instinct. 

 The young are not fed from any desire to do them any good, 

 but solely for the relief of the parent. The evidence on this 

 point cannot be given here, but I believe it is conclusive. 



But if all this be true, where does the graduation towards 

 intelligence manifest itself. Certainly not in a comprehension 

 of utilities which are discoverable only by human intelligence. 

 Whatever the pigeon instinct-mind contains, it is safe to say 

 that the intelligence is hardly more than a grain hidden in 

 bushels of instinct, and one may search more than a day and 

 not find it. 



a. Experiment with Pigeons. 



Among many tests, take the simple one of removing the 

 eggs to one side of the nest, leaving them in full sight and 

 within a few inches of the bird on the nest. The bird sees 

 the uncovered eggs, but shows no interest in them; she keeps 



1 Professor James, Psychology, II, p. 390, thinks such an idea may arise and 

 that it may encourage the bird to sit. " Every instinctive act in an animal with 

 memory" says James, "must cease to be ' blind' after being once repeated" That 

 must depend on the kind of memory the animal has. It is possible to have 

 memory of a certain kind in some things, while having absolutely none of any 

 kind in other things. That is the case in pigeons, as I feel very. sure. 



