THE EVOLUTION OF INSTINCT 121 



which point to a blended origin of instinct. The cases 

 adduced by Romanes have been critically analyzed by 

 Lloyd Morgan and Whitman, who have shown that they are 

 of very doubtful value as evidence, and we need not repeat 

 the arguments of these writers. One class of cases adduced 

 by Romanes we shall mention since it shows how easily the 

 facts may be misinterpreted. Wildness and tameness among 

 birds are apparently inherited instincts. Most readers are 

 familiar with the statement that birds on little frequer 1 

 islands and in recently explored regions betray at first no 

 marked fear of man and may frequently be knocked over 

 with clubs, whereas in places where they have been hunted 

 for several generations they become very wild, the fear of 

 man being shown by the young birds as well as the old. 

 This fact is supposed to be explainable only on the assump- 

 tion that the painful experiences inflicted by man have 

 become associated with the appearance of the human form, 

 and that this association is transmitted to the young birds, 

 giving them an innate fear of man before they have had any 

 experience with their persecutor. Those who have adopted 

 this explanation have failed to consider the important r6le 

 of imitation in the behavior of young birds. Fear is un- 

 doubtedly instinctive, and it may be aroused by large moving 

 objects or unfamiliar appearances of any kind; but hi general 

 it may be said that a sort of tradition determines, to a very 

 large extent, the objects by which fear is awakened. The 

 excellent observations of Hudson on fear in birds have con- 

 vinced him that the "fear of particular enemies is in nearly 

 all cases for I will not say all the result of experience and 

 tradition. " Young birds have a marked proclivity to flee 

 from objects at which their parents take alann, and to scurry 

 away upon hearing the parental danger signal. Habits of 

 fear in regard to particular enemies are rapidly acquired and 



