41 



and an alligator will defend her buried eggs ; dogs are 

 unusually affectionate animals, and the higher monkeys 

 have many sympathetic habits and emotions, but birds lead 

 them all. This is not remarkable when we consider the 

 wonderfully important place which the family holds in this 

 class of vertebrates. The building of the nest, the compara- 

 tively long incubation of the eggs, and the patient feeding 

 and complex education of the young birds are all duties in 

 which both parents often share. It is this continued associa- 

 tion, this " bridging over of generations," which has made 

 sympathy so prominent a factor in the minds of birds. In 

 what other class of animals are vocal signals of fear, distress, 

 or terror so widely understood, or so willingly met with 

 efforts of assistance ? 



To me it seems pueri]e to try to believe that a bird's affec- 

 tion for her young, so great that she will often give her life 

 in their defense, can be correlated with an instinct^ if that 

 word be used in the common acceptance of the term. It is 

 no more an instinct in the sense of an uncontrollable emotion 

 than is the analogous action of an heroic human being. 

 Altruism, or something very like it, has governed the action 

 of more than one bird under my observation, and that, too, 

 ui some instances, between birds of different species. Three 

 instances come to mind : a female Red- winged Blackbird which 

 carried a mouthful of worms to a nestful of young Red-wings 

 near by, before passing on to brood her own eggs, as yet 

 unhatched ; a Loon which voluntarily risked his life to free a 

 Pied-billed Grebe from an ice-trap, that almost proved fatal ; 

 a Great Crowned Pigeon which assumed the care of a nest- 

 ling Ring-dove that had been deserted by its parents. 



Another aspect of the mental processes of birds shows us 

 examples of revenge being taken after long and patient wait- 

 ing for a favorable opportunity. Similarly, crows have been 

 known again and again to sit in judgment upon one of their 

 number, and to sentence and punish it with death. 



