FERRUGINOUS THRUSH. 109 



" break their wings, he would lay them down, then examine if 

 " they had a sting, and with his bill squeeze the abdomen to 

 " clear it of the reservoir of poison, before he would swallow 

 " his prey. When in his cage, being very fond of dry crusts of 

 " bread, if upon trial the corners of the crumbs were too hard 

 *' and sharp for his throat, he would throw them up, carry and 

 " put them in his water-dish to soften; then take them out and 

 " swallow them. Many other remarkable circumstances might 

 " be mentioned that would fully demonstrate faculties of mind; 

 " not only innate, but acquired ideas (derived from necessity in 

 " a state of domestication) which we call understanding and 

 " knowledge. We see that this bird could associate those ideas, 

 " arrange and apply them in a rational manner, according to 

 " circumstances. For instance, if he knew that it was the hard 

 " sharp corners of the crumb of bread that hurt his gullet, and 

 " prevented him from swallowing it, and that water would soft- 

 " en and render it easy to be swallowed, this knowledge must 

 " be acquired by observation and experience; or some other 

 " bird taught him. Here the bird perceived by the effect the 

 " cause, and then took the quickest, the most effectual, and 

 "agreeable method to remove that cause. What could the wisest 

 " man have done better? Call it reason, or instinct, it is the same 

 " that a sensible man would have done in this case. 



" After the same manner this bird reasoned with respect to 

 "the wasps. He found, by experience and observation, that the 

 " first he attempted to swallow hurt his throat, and gave him 

 " extreme pain; and upon examination observed that the extre- 

 " mity of the abdomen was armed with a poisonous sting; and 

 " after this discovery, never attempted to swallow a wasp until 

 "he first pinched his abdomen to the extremity, forcing out 

 "the sting with the receptacle of poison." 



It is certainly a circumstance highly honourable to the charac- 

 ter of birds, and corroborative of the foregoing sentiments, that 

 those who have paid the most minute attention to their manners 

 are uniformly their advocates and admirers. " He must," said 

 a gentleman to me the other day, when speaking of another per- 



