Fear in Birds. 



119 



a certain maturity of the nervous system, with comparative suddenness, as we have just 

 seen, but is usually timed to correspond with the development of the wing-quills and 

 the power of flight. 



At the age of twenty-four days the Kingfisher is in full feather, but shows no fear. 

 He will perch comfortably on your hand or shoulder, and pose in any desired position, 

 as the photographs made at this period will show, but the instinct soon appears after this 

 stage is passed. In from twenty-four to forty-eight hours later when these birds not only 

 possess the power of flight, but use it at the first intimation of danger, their docile nature 

 has completely changed. With them the late development of this instinct is most oppor- 



Fig. 116. Young Kingfishers twenty-four days old. They are capable of flight, but show 

 no fear. 



tune, since they are not tempted to leave the security of their tunnel in the ground until 

 they can make long excursions and follow their parents to the favorite fishing grounds. 



Turning now to the praecocial birds, according to the best testimony, fear in the 

 domestic chick hatched in an incubator is at first very slight and is soon checked by con- 

 trary impulses such as to nestle in a warm place, unless the instinct be brought into 

 immediate exercise. 



Mr. Charles A. Allen says that the newly hatched young of the Black Duck (Anas 

 obscura] show no fear, but will " cuddle under one's hand very confidingly." 1 once saw 

 a nest of this species on the shore of Lake Champlain, near Burlington, Vermont, on the 

 very verge of a high, overhanging cliff. It was set against the stems of a slender shrub, 

 the pulling of which would doubtless have precipitated the entire clutch fifty feet into 



