62 THE INFANCY OF ANIMALS 



A further point in the matter of this behaviour is the 

 difference displayed under the same stimulus under 

 different conditions. The adult, when its personal safety 

 alone is concerned, seeks refuge when threatened rather 

 in its protective coloration than in flight, continuing the 

 behaviour which served it in such good stead during its 

 early days of existence, when fear was a new thing — outside 

 experience. But with the advent of the young, personal 

 safety occupies a secondary place, and the behaviour is 

 changed, every effort being made in the interest of the 

 offspring to draw attention to itself. 



Among many species the female alone, and in some the 

 male alone, takes charge of the young. And this does not 

 obtain, as is generally supposed, only among polygamous 

 and polyandrous species. The Californian quail affords a 

 case in point. In this species the male takes sole charge 

 of the family when they attain the age of three weeks, 

 when the female begins the labours of rearing a second 

 brood ! 



A remarkable fact in regard to the nestlings of the 

 peacock pheasant came to light some years ago in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society of London, when a 

 brood of young peacock pheasants (jPolyflectron chinquis) 

 were being brought up by a bantam hen. These chicks 

 would keep following close on her heels, so that they were 

 often kicked by her as she scraped away the earth in 

 her endeavours to provide them with delicate morsels in 

 the shape of seeds or insects. The explanation of this 

 strange conduct came a year later, when another brood 

 was reared by the natural mother. Then it was found 

 that the chicks always ran close behind her, under the 

 shelter of her great fan-shaped tail, and only ran forward 

 when she called them to pick up food. 



