478 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. Oct. 1835. 



uninhabited by man^ these two are among the most import- 

 ant. From the foregoing statements we may, I think, con- 

 clude ; first, that the wildness of birds with regard to man, is 

 a particular instinct directed against him, and not dependent 

 on any general degree of caution arising from other sources 

 of danger ; secondly, that it is not acquired by them in a 

 short time, even when much persecuted; but that in the 

 course of successive generations it becomes hereditary. With 

 domesticated animals we are accustomed to see instincts 

 becoming hereditary ; but with those in a state of nature, it 

 is more rare to discover instances of such acquired know- 

 ledge. In regard to the wildness of birds towards men, there 

 is no other way of accounting for it. Few young birds in 

 England have been injured by man, yet all are afraid of 

 him : many individuals, on the other hand, both at the Gala- 

 pagos and at the Falklands, have been injured, but yet have 

 not learned that salutary dread. We may infer from these 

 facts, what havoc the introduction of any new beast of prey 

 must cause in a country, before the instincts of the aborigines 

 become adapted to the stranger's craft or power. 



