BRITISH WARBLERS 



The sexual and parental instinct and the instinct of pugnacity all 

 have their corresponding emotion, which is supposed to have a 

 definite part to play in furthering the life of the individual. I 

 do not for a moment deny that such a supposition may be correct, 

 but there are many facts which are at variance first with this 

 and then with that interpretation, if we are to regard the 

 correlation of this instinctive performance with that emotional 

 expression as definitely fixed and exclusive of cross-correlation, 

 and very much that we do not in the least understand. For 

 instance, there is the interpretation placed upon the emotion 

 which accompanies the parental instinct. Many species, when 

 their nest or young are interfered with, perform in a manner 

 which, without an undue stretching of the imagination, might 

 be regarded as a simulation of helplessness, and their behaviour 

 thus appears to be purposive. Instances are given in the life 

 of the Lesser Whitethroat and some remarks added which, 

 though they do not carry us much further towards a solution, 

 serve to show the difficulties in the path of interpretation. 

 One might go on discussing this particular aspect of behaviour 

 interminably. Here I will only draw attention to one feature 

 of all emotional manifestation, namely, the similarity in the 

 type and intensity of the response at different emotional 

 periods. I am fully aware that in using the term " similarity " 

 I lay myself open to criticism, on the ground that our per- 

 ceptual powers are too feeble to differentiate between such 

 subtle manifestations. But while I am quite prepared to 

 admit the dulness of our perceptual powers when compared 

 with those of the lower animals, I nevertheless hesitate to 

 attribute the observed similarity wholly to this fact ; in other 

 words, I believe that it is really there and has to be reckoned 

 with. Professor Lloyd Morgan holds that the differentiation 

 of emotion from a common base is a more fruitful conception 

 than the mode of synthesis proposed by Dr. McDougall. 

 Similarity, on his view, becomes more explicable ; for if it can 

 be shown that there is a strong probability of some specific 

 type of behaviour serving a double or a treble purpose, so much 



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