Instinct and its Lessons 113 



imposture. Father Robert Ross, S.J., gives me the 

 following description of what he himself witnessed, in 

 former days, on the part of a Norwegian Ptarmigan, or 

 Ryper: "I was after deer on one of the shoulders of 

 Snaehatten, when I put up a few Ryper. Their flight 

 attracted the attention of an Eagle, who immediately 

 swooped down in pursuit. One of the birds pursued 

 turned sharp round towards me, the Eagle close after it, 

 and dashed itself in among the rocks within twenty 

 yards from where I stood. The Eagle could not get 

 into the crevice, but by the flapping of its wings, and 

 general features, could, I thought, just reach the bird 

 with its talons, and was tearing it to pieces. I did not 

 wish to shoot the Eagle, for fear of frightening the Deer, 

 but was anxious to get the Ryper as an addition to my 

 larder. Accordingly, with my stalker I made a rush and 

 frightened the Eagle off, and on reaching the spot we 

 found the Ryper lying, as we thought, dead, with a 

 handful of its feathers around. The Norwegian thought I 

 had better tap it hard on the head with his stick, before 

 he put in his hand to reach it, but thinking it quite dead 

 I gave the bird only two slight taps, one on the head and 

 the other on the body, just enough to convince the man, 

 as I was convinced, that the Ryper had given its last 

 kick. The bird all this time never moved, but the 

 instant the stalker put in his hand to bag it, there was a 

 sudden quick flutter, and the next instant out rushed the 

 Ryper through another crevice, as strong and well as 

 ever." 



Sundry insects will likewise sham death, to escape 

 threatened death. But it is evident, as we see in the 

 above case, that unless the deception were quite perfect, 

 such a proceeding would only ensure destruction by 

 awaiting it. But on the Natural Selection theory the 

 imitation must have been very far from perfect to begin 

 with. 



The instincts called into play by birds in defence of 

 their young, where a species has not strength sufficient 

 to show fight, are often pervaded by the same idea, 



