328 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



CAN AND DO BIRDS REASON ? 

 By Frank M. Littler, M.A.O.U. 



This is a subject upon which much has and can be said on 

 both sides. Opponents refuse to believe that any living being 

 other than man is endowed with intelligence. On the other 

 hand, the more liberal minded feel they cannot blind themselves 

 to many facts that come under their notice, which cannot be 

 accounted for except by the supposition of a reasoning capacity. 

 The matter has been dealt with at some length by Wallace and 

 Milne-Edwards ; also incidentally by Dr. Carpenter in his great 

 work on ' Mental Physiology.' Unfortunately the writings of the 

 two first authors are not available, so that I am unable to ascer- 

 tain how far their views correspond with those here expressed. 



It is more particularly in regard to nest-building that dis- 

 cussion has been carried on. In the following notes other 

 points will be considered, and an endeavour made to show 

 that something more than "instinct" is possessed by our 

 feathered friends. At the same time "instinct" and "intelli- 

 gence " merge so into one another as to become almost syn- 

 onymous terms, and what one would attribute to " instinct " 

 another would contend was " intelligence." Dr. Carpenter* 

 says : — " It would be impossible to find a better illustration of 

 the contrast between Instinct and Intelligence as springs of 

 action than is afforded by the comparison of the habits of birds 

 in a state of nature with those which they acquire when brought 

 into relation with Man. There can be no reasonable doubt that 

 their architectural constructions, like those of insects, proceed 

 from an inherent impulse, which prompts each individual of a 

 species to build after one particular pattern, to choose a situation 

 suitable to its requirements, and to go in search of materials of 

 a certain kind, though others might be much more easily 

 obtained. But, on the other hand, in the working out of this 



* ' Mental Physiology,' p. 85. 



