A STUDY OF ACQUIRED HABITS 67 



ginning ? The very differences in their methods 

 point to that explanation. The Lewis's wood- 

 pecker that had seen the Carpenter's work tried 

 to imitate him ; the one that lived outside his 

 range adopted a way of his own, unnoticed be- 

 fore among woodpeckers, and shelled and quar- 

 tered his nuts before he stored them. 



It is remarkable that these four woodpeckers 

 are cousins ; they belong to the same genus, 

 and they have essentially the same structure, 

 tastes, and habits. Why should it be strange if 

 their minds were alike too ? if they had a natu- 

 ral bent toward accumulativeness, and a natural 

 desire to try new wrinkles ? We are sure that 

 one of them has acquired a new habit within a 

 few years. Why may we not suppose as a basis 

 and a spur to further investigation that the 

 others also are acquiring ways new and strange ? 



