Birds 



THE MENTAL QUALITIES OF 



BIRD S,/ 



AS- COMPARED 



WITH THEIR CEREBRAL DEVELOPMENT. 



BY 



JOHN MACGILLIVRAY, 



VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE CUVIERIAN SOCIETY. 



*' There is not, in my opinion, anything more mysterious in nature than this in- 

 stinct in animals, which thus rises above reason, and falls infinitely short of it. It 

 cannot be accounted for by any properties in matter, and at the same time works 

 after so odd a manner, that one cannot think it the faculty of an intellectual being. 

 For my own part, I look upon it as upon the principle of gravitation in bodies, 

 which is not to be explained by any known qualities inherent in the bodies them- 

 selves, nor from any laws of mechanism ; but according to the best notions of the 

 greatest philosophers, is an immediate impression from the first Mover, and the 

 divine energy acting in the creatures."— Addison. Spectator, No. 120. 



