246 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
even of the simplest kind, and one may put down at least seven- 
eighths of the actions of fowls to instinct and not to an ability to 
think and act accordingly. The strongest instincts of all animals 
are those which go to satisfy hunger, and in this statement I 
include sex hunger. If it were not so all animals would speedily 
become extinct. Instinct will take a duck to the water—not in 
search of water but in search of food. Nature has provided the 
newly hatched chicken with an internal supply of food, yet a bird 
a few hours old will eat if food is placed before it. Instinct does 
not tell it not to eat. The instinct to eat is more powerful than 
the feeling of satiety. 
And this overruling instinct remains with the fow] all through 
life. Even when sick and ill the fow! will continue to eat so long 
as it is able to stand and pick upfood. I have seen them continue 
to eat till a few minutes before they died. Of course there comes 
a time when, the crop being full and choked, the bird can eat no 
longer, but short of that period, a fowl as a rule will go on eating 
grain or any food to its liking. In its wild state the fowl, like most 
other animals, learned to eat as much as possible while food was 
plentiful. Instinct told it that it would have to wait long before 
it could again get a supply of food. A plenitude of food would be 
frequently succeeded by famine and for that reason the fowl 
learned to eat as long as the food lasted. Eating was the first law 
of life, because it meant self-preservation. 
It is no surprise then to the keeper of the domestic fowl to see 
it meet him half-way at meal-times. If he is late it will meet him 
more than half-way. When he comes in sight with the feeding 
pail there is a cry and a clatter inside and outside the fowl-house. 
The birds inside know as well as those outside that feeding-time 
has arrived. If one is accustomed to feed inside they will all 
troop in to the very spot where one is accustomed to begin feeding. 
If the meal is given outside they will cluster round the spot where 
the feeding troughs are. They know all about food. Try them 
with sawdust in place of meal or grain and they are not having 
any. If it is not intelligence that has taught them what to eat 
and what to leave alone, it is an instinct that is safer than 
