76 



ON THE MENTAL QUALITIES AND „ 



the migratory instinct of the swallow less wonderful than 

 that of the lemming or the rein-deer ? It is familiar to all, 

 that the lapwing, the plover, and many other birds, will 

 feign lameness in order to draw away an intruder from the 

 neighbourhood of their nests ; and the conduct of the 

 hooded crow, in obtaining food from the larger shell-fish, 

 by dropping them upon the ground from a great height, 

 appears to be perfectly rational. Indeed every ornitholo- 

 gical work abounds with passages relating occurrences of a 

 similar nature ; but the above illustrations are sufficient to 

 shew, that birds are in nowise behind the mammalia (man, 

 and two or three others, being alone excepted) in the ex- 

 tent to which their reasoning powers, or instinct, if this 

 term be preferred, are developed. Yet, by the phrenolo- 

 gical doctrine, we ought to regard them a priori as almost 

 devoid of mental qualities, on account of the extreme struc- 

 tural simplicity of their brain. 



It is necessary, according to phrenologists, before pro- 

 ceeding to compare mental faculties with cerebral develop- 

 ment, to be satisfied, " 1st, that the mental qualities of in- 

 dividuals can be discovered; and, 2dly, that the size of 

 the brain can be ascertained during life."* 



That these two conditions, originally intended to apply 

 to human phrenology, are equally applicable to that branch 

 of the science which treats of the faculties and cerebral de- 

 velopment of the lower animals, phrenologists have endea- 

 voured to prove. The rule, that the individual qualities of 

 each animal must be known, appears at first sight almost 



* Combe's System of Phrenology, vol, i. p. 85. 



