1877.] Glimpses of Mind in Birds. 288 
~ that cannot be explained, if to a bird’s brain we only accord the 
operations of instinct. Grief has no more to do with instinct, 
pure and simple, than ordinary emotions have to do with the 
heart ; and yet birds certainly do experience all the pains occa- 
sioned by grief, and when this becomes excessive, so as to cause 
death, then it has at least reached the border lands of insanity. 
I now ask, Do birds ever in their feral state pass quite beyond 
it? If not wrong in considering intoxication temporary insan- 
ity, then certainly birds are at times permanently insane. 
It not unfrequently happens that birds are forced to take flight 
at night, when darkness only is visiblé, and are wounded or 
stunned by coming in violent contact with some resisting object. 
While such an accident usually proves fatal, it not always does 
so, although permanent cerebral injuries are received. I recall 
now an instance of a male quail coming with tremendous velocity 
against a window, literally cutting a passage for itself through 
the pane, and falling on the floor on the opposite side of the 
toom. The bird was picked up for dead ; but while being exam- 
ined it revived, and the ill effects of the concussion partially 
passed away ; but assuming that the bird was as mentally strong 
as its fellows before the accident, it was ever after not subject to 
occasional fits, as a cause of the mishap, but in fact permanently 
insane. While none of its movements were what one might ex- 
pect of a quail in confinement, this one had a number of very 
crazy notions. The most noticeable peculiarity was that of 
whistling its ordinary call-note backwards, thus, “* White’-bob,” 
for Bob-white’. The intonation and accent were exactly reversed, 
and were at once noticed by every one who had ever heard a quail 
whistle. While very tame and gentle with the family, it readily 
recognized strangers as such, and if approached by them would 
strike at them with its claws, lying flat on its back, reminding 
one forcibly of a wounded hawk. Another very marked pecul- 
larity of habit was that of chasing or appearing to chase its food, 
the bird evidently laboring under the impression that its food 
was alive and endeavoring to escape. It may be claimed that 
the passage through the pane of glass may have injured its i eet 
sight, and so the apparent chase of its food was caused by disor- . 
dered vision. This is met by the fact that in no other way did 
Its vision appear to’ be affected, and it was tested in several 
Ways; and again, the effects of the concussion would scarcely 
have caused also am alteration of its vocal organs, as though its 
arynx by the blow had been turned wrong end foremost. 
