INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF YOUNG BIRDS 8g 
partridges will scratch the ground, that a jay will go through 
certain actions in the bath, that the preening of the down will 
be carried out in particular ways—moor-hens, for example, 
wringing out the water ina peculiar manner,—and that all these, 
and many other modes of behaviour, will be presented in 
relatively definite ways : all these are, to borrow a phrase of 
Dr. Peckham’s, so characteristic of the several groups of birds, 
that they would be an important part of any definition based 
upon behaviour. And there can be no question that they are 
instinctive. ‘They may indeed seem trivial and commonplace, 
scarcely worthy of special note ; but they serve to show in 
how many details organic heredity lays the foundation for 
future behaviour, and affords groups of data for effective 
consciousness to utilize. 
To show the instinctive nature of such behaviour, the fol- 
lowing examples will suffice. One of a batch of moor-hen 
chicks showed once, and once only, when a week old, an in- 
cipient tendency to bathe in the shallow tin of water which 
was placed in their run, but soon desisted ; nor was the action 
repeated, though he and the others enjoyed standing in the 
water. Five weeks later one of the batch was taken to a beck. 
He walked quietly through the comparatively still water near 
the edge ; but when he reached the part of the stream where 
it ran swiftly and broke over the pebbles, he stopped, ducked, 
and took an elaborate bath, dipping his head well under, 
flicking the water over his back, ruffling his feathers, and 
behaving in a most characteristic manner. Each day there- 
after he did the same, with a vigour that increased up to the 
third morning, and then remained constant. The same bird 
some weeks later was swimming in a narrow part of the 
stream, with steep banks on either side, when he was frightened 
by a rough-haired pup. Down he dived, for the first time in 
his life ; and after a few seconds his head was seen to appear, 
just peeping above the water beneath the bank. 
Ten days after receiving two nestling jays I placed in their 
cage a shallow tin of water. They took no notice of it, 
having never seen water before ; for they were fed chiefly on 
