October i i, 1894] 



iV^ TC/R£ 



575 



crepancy is greater and greater. Thus, from curves 

 given by Dines (p. 256) showing his own and Rayleigh's 

 results, I find the normal resistance to a blade moved 

 through air in a direction inclined 30^ to its plane, to be 

 I '82 times that given by Rayleigh's formula. And by 

 drawing a tangent to Dines' curve at the point in which 

 it cuts the line of zero pressure, I find that, for very 

 small values of t, it gives 



3 '25 X sin i X P.\. 



This is rather more than double the value of the force 

 given by Rayleigh's formula for very small values of z', 

 which is 



i ff sin J. PA. 



It is about three and a half per cent, greater than that 

 given by my conjectural formula (N.^TURK, August 20, 

 p. 426, and September 27, p. 525 ; and P/ii/. Alag., 

 October 1894) for very small values of i, which is 



TT sin i cos i. PA. 



My formula is, however, merely conjectural ; and I was 

 inclined to think that it may considerably under-estimate 

 the force. That it does so to some degree is perhaps 

 made probable by its somewhat close agreerient with 

 Dines ; because the blade in his experiments was 3/ 

 broad and i of an inch thick in the middle with edges 

 " feathered off." An infinitely thin blade would probably 

 have shown greater resistances, at all angles, and 

 especially at those of small inclination to the wind. 



{To be continued.) 



OBSERVATIONS ON YOUNG PHEASANTS. 



'X'HE pheasants which formed the subjects of the 

 -*• following observations were hatched out in an in- 

 cubator from eggs kindly given me by .Sir Cecil Miles. 

 The eggs were taken from the hen and transferred to 

 the incubator a few days before the young birds were due 

 to emerge. 



The accuracy of pecking and seizing was found to be 

 about the same as that of newly-hatched chicks. For 

 example : two pheasants were hatched out at about 

 3 p.m. ; that evening, at about 6.30, finely chopped egg 

 was placed before them, but they showed no signs of 

 pecking at it ; nor did they peck at grain or sand next 

 morning at 11 a.m. At 4 p.m. they began to peck, but 

 seized very little. One struck repeatedly at a crumb of 

 egg on the other's back, but failed to seize it, though the 

 other bird was quite still. On the following morning 

 they pecked at sand and grain (chielly canary seed) with 

 fair aim. One seized, at the first stroke, a grain of boiled 

 rice at the end of a long steel pin. Another pheasant 

 was hatched out in the night. At about 12 noon, I 

 offered him some egg-bread on the end of a tooth-pick. 

 He struckat it and missed, slrucka second timeandseized, 

 swallowing some. He could not be induced to strike 

 again. Later he picked up some ants' " eggs," striking 

 with fair accuracy, but did not swallow any. At 4 p.m. he 

 pecked some egg-bread off the end of the tooth-pick, and 

 swallowed. He also pecked at an ant's " egg," but failed 

 to swallow it ; then at a second, and swallowed it. Further 

 details would be merely wearisome. One may say that 

 the co-ordination for pecking and swallowing is inherited 

 in a condition such as to ensure fair but not complete 

 accuracy ; and that some individual experience is neces- 

 sary to bring it to perfection. 



The young pheasants took no notice whatever of water 

 placed before them in a shallow vessel. When I gave 

 them water on the tip of my finger, they seemed to enjoy 

 it, and one in particular drank eagerly from the end of a 

 tooth-pick, so that an association was established be- 

 tween the sight of the tooth-pick and the satisfaction of 

 drinking. But when I lifted this bird and others, and 



NO. J 302, VOL. 50] 



placed them in the shallow vessel, they made no attempt 

 to drink from it. They learnt to drink from the vessel 

 through pecking at grains of food lying on the bottom. 

 They drank, however, less freely than chicks. 



The little birds showed no sign of fear of me. They 

 liked to nestle in my warm hand. My fox-terrier was 

 keen to get at them, much keener than with chicks, 

 probably through scent-suggestion. I placed two of the 

 young pheasants, about a day old, on the floor, and let 

 him smell them (under strict orders not to touch them). 

 He was trembling in every limb from excitement. But 

 they showed no signs of fear, though his nose was within 

 an inch of them. When the pheasants were a week old, 

 I procured a large blind-worm and placed it in front of 

 the incubator drawer in which the birds slept at night. 

 On opening the drawer they jumped out as usual, and 

 ran over the blind-worm without taking any notice of it. 

 Presently first one, then another, pecked vigorously at 

 the forked tongue as it played in and out of the blind- 

 worm's mouth. Subsequently they pecked at its eye and 

 the end of its tail. This observation naturally leads one 

 to surmise that the constant tongue-play in snakes may 

 act as a lure for young and inexperienced birds ; and that 

 some cases of so-called fascination may be simply the 

 fluttering of birds round this tempting object. I dis- 

 tinctly remember when a boy seeing a grass-snake with 

 head slightly elevated and quite motionless, and round 

 it three or four young birds fluttering nearer and nearer. 

 It looked like fascination ; it may have been that each 

 hoped to be the first to catch that tempting but elusive 

 worm ! Presently they would no doubt be invited to step 

 inside. 



Another incidental observation is worth recording 

 here. I gave the young birds some wood-lice. These 

 were frequently caught when they were moving, and 

 eaten. But if one had time to roll up, and was thus 

 seized, it was shot out to a distance by the pressure of 

 the bill, just as a fresh cherry-stone is shot from between 

 the finger and thumb of a school-boy. The protective 

 value of the round and slippery form was thus a matter 

 of observation. 



I have not observed in the young pheasants the crouch- 

 ing down, which is seen in young chicks when an unusual 

 sound startles them. They appear under such circum- 

 stances to stand motionless. For example, when two of 

 them were walking about, picking up all the indigestible 

 odds and ends they could find on my carpet, a high 

 chord was sharply struck on the violin. Both stopped 

 dead. The gentle piping noise they were making ceased. 

 One of them was just lifting his leg, and remained in 

 this position quite still, with neck stretched out, exactly 

 as if he had been suddenly fixed in the attitude in which 

 he chanced to be when the sharp sound fell on his ears. 

 Thus he remained for half a minute. Then he took a 

 few steps and again stopped, remaining quite still for 

 about the same period. (Age 13 days.) 



The method of tackling a worm appears to be a 

 matter of inherited co-ordination. So soon as the worm 

 is seized, it is shaken and battered about. There seems 

 to be, also, an inherited tendency to run away with it to 

 some distance before eating it. At all events, of two little 

 pheasants, one of which was weakly, the stronger always 

 bolted off with his worm, though his weakly brother or 

 sister seldom or never chased him. He sometimes tried 

 to bolt with one of his companion's toes by mistake, when 

 one or both of the birds would topple over. 



Two notes or sounds, one loud and distressful, the 

 other soft and contentful, appear from the first to be 

 clearly differentiated. A third sound, more gentle than 

 the soft note and double, was occasionally heard when 

 one caressed the birds in one's warm hand. It closely 

 resembles a similar note uttered under similar circum- 

 stances by the chick. The note expressive of danger, 

 alarm, or anger, was occasionally heard after about the 



