Some Colony Birds. 269 
development some higher interference is postulated. As to the nature and 
manner of this interference I am not yet prepared to give an opinion. For the 
present it will suffice to use such familiar terms as instinct, heredity and the 
like with which to designate it. But the distance between this instinct—call 
it what you will—and human intelligence is in a manner infinite ; in short, 
animals and men, as regards their motive power, live on an entirely different 
plane. A well-known modern: zoologist writes: ““. . . the habit many 
people have of uncritically attributing purely human feelings to dogs, cats, 
horses, ete., is apt to lead us into serious error. ”’ 
We should do well to keep this sane warning in mind for it would save us 
from a good deal of disappointment in our dealings with the lower animals ; 
and we shall then not be inclined to treat them harshly when they fail us. 
Speaking generally, a little discreet punishment is useful as a deterrent in train- 
ing an animal, say a horse ; but to treat a horse if it were as culpable as a 
servant when it fails to do what is required of it, is almost as insane ag it 
would be to horse-whip a motor-car for casting a wheel. 
Books have been written, and well written, to describe and portray the 
intelligence of birds and animals : an equal number might also be written to 
expose their stupidity. But the task would not be a gallant or pleasing one, 
and we are glad we are not concerned with this at present. However, I must 
observe by way of explanation, that when hereafter I shall use tne word “ in- 
telligence ” or any equivalent of it in reference to birds, I only do so ina relative, 
analogical or metaphorical sense. Let me also say that no scientific order is 
followed. I simply treat each bird as it comes to hand, though where possible 
I have grouped together birds that are akin. This method will be more pleas- 
ing to many of my readers than the text-book plan. 
We shall find in our study of living animals that each species moves along a 
narrow groove and that the characteristics of each are, more or less, stereotyped ; 
so that, under similar circumstances, one individual will act almost precisely 
the same as any other individual of the same species. Consequently, generally 
speaking, to know one is to know all. There are, however, occasional pleasing 
variations to this rule sufficient to show that the slow but powerful forces of 
evolution are still active. That these forces have accomplished all that many 
scientists would give them credit for, remains still far beyond the region of 
things proven. In all cases the wish has been father to the 
thought, and the thought, once cleverly expressed, has been adopted by wil- 
ling disciples as if fully demonstrated. But I must not pursue this question 
further. What I have written will suffice by way of preface. 
Waurtre-THRoATED Hummine-Birp. 
I had been but a few months in Demerara, when one of the boys brought me 
a tiny humming-bird, slightly wounded in the wing. All my zoological 
instincts were aroused at the touch of this tiniest and most wonderful of Nature’ s 
handiworks in the shape of a bird. It was a white-throated emerald (Agytria 
leucogaster) which is common enough in Georgetown. As I write, one has 
taken up its position on one of the bare twigs that hang down from the mass of 
