THE REIGN OF LAW 



or their wings with quills. Antecedent to all ex- 

 perience of injury, they exhibit fear, and not only 

 fear, but fear of the proper objects. They will flee 

 when they see a hawk, and they will carefully 

 avoid a stinging insect. In Europe the young of 

 the Woodgrouse or Gelinotte are able to fly from 

 the moment they break the shell. In Australia, 

 and the great group of islands which connect 

 Australia with the Asiatic continent, there is a still 

 more curious example of the same fact. There is a 

 Family of Birds (Megapodidce) of which the young 

 are hatched, not by the incubation of the parents, 

 but by the heat of fermentation generated in earthen 

 mounds, scraped together for the purpose. From 

 the moment the young are hatched they feed 

 themselves, and run, and fly, and roost on trees, as 

 if the world on which they have just opened their 

 eyes had been long familiar. It is said, indeed, 

 that the Parent Bird watches the Hatching 

 Mound, and is ready to escort the chicks upon 

 their first appearance in the surrounding scrub. 

 But the recognition of the Parent by the young, 

 and the answer to her call, are the most remark- 

 able of all among these proofs of intuitive ideas. 



