THE KEY TO ANIMAL BEHAVIOR 



Their drinking and swimming habits are simply 

 reactions. The power must be directly applied to 

 set the machinery going. This inherent tendency on 

 the part of the duck to take to the water is instinct. 

 The chicken does not take to the water when its feet 

 are wet; it does not inherit the swimming impulse, 

 and it cannot acquire it; its organization holds it to 

 the land. 



The kitten may not know a mouse at sight, but 

 does this prove that it has not the killing instinct? 

 The cat is a preying animal. It preys upon the small 

 animals and birds and insects ; and this is not a habit, 

 but an instinct which you cannot eradicate. It is 

 quite possible that a laboratory kitten would not 

 kill a mouse offhand, but can any one doubt that the 

 young of a wild cat would kill a mouse at sight ? 



Few mammals gain any knowledge through the 

 eye. Often the dog does not know his own master 

 by sight. The sense of smell is their guide; that 

 alone is convincing to them; hence the keenness of 

 this sense in most wild creatures. 



The writer to whom I am referring says that 

 "so far as the study of animal behavior is con- 

 cerned, the days of the mere observer are past," 

 — he has lost his job. The "new psychology" cap- 

 tures the animal, imprisons it in a cage like a cul- 

 prit, and then begins its detective work. Certain 

 things may, no doubt, be learned about animal 

 mentality by this course; but I am very skeptical 

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