NOTES. 581 



reached that stage of mental evolution at which they are even incipiently 

 rational." 



Probably all naturalists allow that animals who profit by experience 

 and adapt their actions to varying circumstances are intelligent. But 

 cases which force us to credit animals with general ideas, with " thinking 

 the therefore ", in short, with reason, are admitted by few. 



LOVE AND COURTSHIP AMONG BIRDS. 



While admiring the vigorous protest which Brehm makes in this 

 chapter against the interpretation which regards animals as automata, 

 I feel that he has hardly done justice to it. In general terms, the inter- 

 pretation is that animals act as they do in virtue of an inherited organic 

 mechanism which responds in a uniform manner to certain stimuli. That 

 this is true of many animal and even human actions, especially in early 

 youth, seems highly probable. That it only covers a small fraction of 

 animal behaviour is certain. But even those who go furthest in extending 

 the scope of animal automatism, do not say that an automatic act may not 

 be accompanied by consciousness, they only say that it is not controlled by 

 consciousness. See Huxley, Are Animals automata? in his collected Essays : 

 and Lloyd Morgan, Introduction to Comparative Psychology. 



Note 63, p. 272. Sexual Selection. 



For a statement of the doctrine of sexual selection, the original docu- 

 ment Darwin's Descent of Man should be consulted. But the theory 

 has met with strong criticism, e.g. on the part of Alfred Russel Wallace, 

 see his Darwinism. See also The Evolution of Sex, by Geddes and 

 Thomson, and Lloyd Morgan's Animal Life and Intelligence. 



Note 64, p. 279. Polygamous Birds. 



Darwin has discussed the question of polygamous birds in his Descent 

 of Man. 



Note 65, p. 281. The Widowed Bird. 



For one of the finest expressions in literature of the possible emotions 

 of the widowed bird, we may be allowed to refer to Walt Whitman's 

 " Out of the cradle endlessly rocking " (Leaves of Grass). 



APES AND MONKEYS. 



Note 66, p. 285. Descent from Monkeys. 



Hanuman, the sacred Hindoo long-tailed monkey, plays an important 

 part in Hindoo mythology. He was the friend of Vishnu during his 

 incarnation as Rama Chandra, and he aided the god greatly in the search 

 for his wife Sita, who had been carried off by Ravan. A female slave, 

 who had tended Sita kindly during her captivity, was married to Hanu- 

 man as a reward, and this pair some Indian noble families proudly claim 

 as ancestors. 



