250 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



they are putting two and two together in a simple way. 

 When a dog turns round and round and smooths the herb- 

 age of the hearthrug into a bed for the night, it is obeying 

 an ancient instinct ; when it tries various ways of getting a 

 stick with a crooked handle through a fence of close-set 

 uprights, it is using its intelligence. When a horse shies 

 at an unexplained rustling in the hedgerow, it does so 

 instinctively ; when it takes the market-cart safely home 

 with the driver asleep, it does so intelligently. When 

 inexperienced bees deal successfully with flowers, the per- 

 formance is instinctive ; when they set up house in a tree 

 or mend a broken comb in an economical and effective way, 

 intelligence is probably at work. When a bird utters its 

 call-note before it is hatched, that is instinctive ; when 

 a parrot tells its mistress that it is dinner-time, that is 

 more or less intelligent. 



In these instances we have contrasted, in a simple way, 

 instinctive and intelligent behaviour. It seems clear 

 that whether the difference between them be of degree or 

 of kind, there is a difference of sufficient importance to 

 warrant the use of two different words. But it seems neces- 

 sary to admit that it is not easy to discover either kind of 

 behaviour in a perfectly pure form. Instinctive behaviour 

 has often a spice of intelligence along with it, or is modified 

 by intelligent ' learning '. Intelligent behaviour often 

 utilizes instinctive dispositions as a basis. 



That the distinctive call-note of a bird is sometimes 

 instinctive is satisfactorily proved by cases where the 

 characteristic sound is uttered before the young bird 

 is hatched. Mr. Hudson cites the case of a young 

 Rhynchotus rufescens, isolated when it was getting out of 

 the egg-shell and reared beyond reach of education, which 



