Some Habits and Instincts of Young Birds. 51 



somewhat larger worms they seemed afraid. And my 

 belief is that the instinctive response is not to a worm, 

 as such, but to a small moving object, — a larger moving 

 object evoking a quite different response. 



Pheasants and partridges, when they seized a worm for 

 the first time, shook it and dashed it against the ground ; 

 one of them did so, indeed, with such vigour that he shook 

 himself over, and thereafter could not for some time be in- 

 duced so much as to look at a worm. They also, even more 

 markedly than chicks, showed a tendency to bolt with such 

 a treasure as a caterpillar or a worm. This was marked 

 in the case of two pheasants, one much larger than the 

 other, though of the same age ; for though the smaller one 

 never attempted to rob his larger companion of a worm 

 or insect, yet the latter always bolted off to some little 

 distance with it. He sometimes tried to bolt with one of 

 his companion's toes by mistake, when one or both would 

 topple over. These modes of behaviour appear to be 

 congenital. 



Very interesting is Spalding's observation of the special 

 manner of catching flies adopted by the young turkey, for it 

 would seem to bear all the distinguishing marks of a truly 

 instinctive activity. " When not a day and a half old," 

 he says, "I observed the young turkey slowly pointing its 

 beak at flies and other small insects without actually 

 pecking at them. In doing this its head could be seen to 

 shake like a hand that is attempted to be held steady by a 

 visible effort. This I observed and recorded when I did 

 not understand its meaning. For it was not until after 

 that I found it to be the invariable habit of the turkey, 

 when it sees a fly settled on any object, to steal on 

 the unwary insect with slow and measured step until 

 sufficiently near, when it advances its head very slowly 

 and steadily till within an inch or so of its prey, which 



