ON THE INSTINCTS OF BIRDS. 141 
instinct, it would be common to every individual of 
the species, and consequently often displayed ; whereas, 
although I have seen hundreds of Crows feeding 
in situations similar to that above described, I never 
perceived any of them resort to this effectual means 
of preserving their prey from the encroaching waters ; 
and I believe the instance related by Montagu is soli- 
tary in the records of ornithology. 
This propensity to hide the food it cannot devour 
is not, however, peculiar to the Crow. I have noticed 
it in the Raven and Magpie; and Rooks, in the 
auttimn, frequently bury acorns in the earth, pro- 
bably with the intention of having recourse to them 
when their wants are more urgent; but sometimes 
forgetting where they have concealed them, they ger- 
minate, and not unfrequently excite surprise by the 
singularity of the situations in which they grow, far 
distant from any trees by which they could have been 
produced, and where it is very evident that they have 
not been planted by man. 
It may be proper to remark here, in order to ob- 
viate misapprehension, that. notwithstanding the cir- 
cumstances attending this seemingly provident mode 
of securing a supply of food against a future occasion 
sometimes afford unequivocal evidence of an intel- 
ligent and discerning agent, yet the act of hiding is 
induced by a purely instinctive propensity. This will 
be admitted by every one who considers that the 
species of birds which are remarkable for this pecu- 
