Some Habits and Instincts of Young Birds. 47 



Spalding's observations : " A chicken that had been made 

 the subject of experiments on hearing (having been bhnd- 

 folded at birth) was unhooded when nearly three days 

 old. For six minutes it sat chirping and looking about it ; 

 at the end of that time it followed with its eyes the move- 

 ments of a fly twelve inches distant; at ten minutes it 

 made a peck at its own toes, and the next instant it made 

 a vigorous dart at the fly, which had come within reach of 

 its neck, and seized and swallowed it at the first stroke ; 

 for seven minutes more it sat calling and looking about it, 

 when a hive-bee, coming sufficiently near, was seized at a 

 dart, and thrown some distance much disabled." He also 

 states that a duckling one day old caught a fly on the 

 wing. 



First, with regard to the accuracy of aim shown in these 

 observations, I cannot but think that such success in 

 catching flying insects at the very first shot is unusual ! In 

 any case, my own observations tell a different tale. During 

 their third, and again on their fifth and sixth day of life 

 special experiments were made with a view to testing this 

 point. Two or three flies were placed under a tumbler in 

 a good light. The birds pecked at them as seen through 

 the glass. One by one, they were then allowed to escape. 

 The chicks made a dash at each in turn, but never 

 succeeded in catching any on the wing, though they caught 

 one or two as they crawled out, before they had taken 

 flight. I tried also with tumblers covered with cardboard 

 lids, which could be removed when the birds had seen the 

 insects and were eager to seize them. It may be said 

 that the conditions were unnatural, and did not give the 

 birds the best possible chance. But I have watched chicks, 

 ducklings, pheasants, guinea-fowl, and moorhens strike 

 repeatedly at flies buzzing round them or flying near them 

 in the open air, and have never yet seen one caught on 



