402 Life and Immortality. 
others. Even where the eggs belong to birds of different 
species, as to the common Muscovy-duck for example, the 
hen displays as much affection for the young ducklings, 
despite the disparity of instinct and habit, as she does had 
they proceeded from her own eggs. May it not be that 
parental love has different channels of transmission, and that 
in such a case as this the emanation from the sitting-hen 
may be the vehicle of parental love toward the young which 
are to be hatched? Certain it is that a sitting-hen, as many 
of us have observed, is altogether a changed being, both in 
attitude and expression. She is entirely absorbed in the 
eggs when she is incubating, and, though she may not have 
the intellect to distinguish a mere lump of chalk from one 
of her own eggs, yet love is altogether independent of intel- 
lect, and may exist in all its vigor, and yet may be wasted 
on an unworthy object. 
Fishes, as is generally known, are not particularly emo- 
tional beings, and are not likely to entertain a lasting love 
for anything. Indeed, in some instances, parental love would 
be absolutely useless, as in the case of the cod-fish, which 
could be hardly expected to entertain a special love for each of 
the countless thousands of young it produces every year. The 
life of the mother would be an unenviable one, if her lot 
were to look after her young as soon as they are hatched, 
especially when the varied foes that beset her eggs as soon 
as they are produced, are considered. Just as there are 
fishes that possess conjugal love, so there are fishes that 
possess parental love, and prominent among these are the 
sticklebacks. But in the case of these fishes the most curi- 
ous part is that parental love is shown by the father, and not 
by the mother, the latter having nothing to do but to lay the 
eggs, and leaving to the former the exclusive labor of pro- 
viding for the young. 
Enough of instances of true parental love among the 
lower animals could be given to fill this entire book, but 
a sufficient number have been adduced to show that the 
