
THE EVOLUTION OF INSTINCT 121 
which point to a blended origin of instinct. The cases 
adduced by Romanes have been critically analyzed by 
Lloyd Morgan and Whitman, who have shown that they are 
of very doubtful value as evidence, and we need not repeat 
the arguments of these writers. One class of cases adduced 
by Romanes we shall mention since it shows how easily the 
facts may be misinterpreted. Wildness and tameness among 
birds are apparently inherited instincts. Most readers are 
familiar with the statement that birds on little frequented 
islands and in recently explored regions betray at first no 
marked fear of man and may frequently be knocked over 
with clubs, whereas in places where they have been hunted 
for several generations they become very wild, the fear of 
man being shown by the young birds as well as the old. 
This fact is supposed to be explainable only on the assump- 
tion that the painful experiences inflicted by man have 
become associated with the appearance of the human form, 
and that this association is transmitted to the young birds, 
giving them an innate fear of man before they have had any 
experience with their persecutor. Those who have adopted 
this explanation have failed to consider the important réle 
of imitation in the behavior of young birds. Fear is un- 
doubtedly instinctive, and it may be aroused by large moving 
objects or unfamiliar appearances of any kind, but in general 
it may be said that a sort of tradition determines, to a very 
large extent, the objects by which fear is awakened. The 
excellent observations of Hudson on fear in birds have con- 
vinced him that the “fear of particular enemies is in nearly 
all cases—for I will not say all—the result of experience and 
tradition.” Young birds have a marked proclivity to flee 
from objects at which their parents take alarm, and to scurry 
away upon hearing the parental danger signal. Habits of 
fear in regard to particular enemies are rapidly acquired and 
