AND DIGRESSIONS 123 



finally one noble individual flew down and settled by 

 its wounded mate. Of course I did not put forth my 

 hand against them again. Such instances of self- 

 sacrifice on the part of gregarious animals lower in the 

 scale are particularly interesting to the evolutionist, 

 who is always on the lookout for the hidden origins 

 of his own humanity, and for evidences of that touch 

 of Nature which makes the whole world of mind, as 

 well as of body, kin. And as I have already in this 

 chapter been guilty of one digression in order to point 

 a moral, I may as well amplify this case of the 

 Brahminy duck by relating a few more instances — all 

 observed by myself in Calcutta — of bird-behaviour in 

 which the ethical element is plainly apparent. 



My wife and I have for more than three years 

 kept an English song- thrush and a grass parrakeet 

 {MelopsittacMS undulatus) together in an aviary along 

 with many other birds. From the first the parrakeet 

 evinced a strong admiration for the thrush : it would 

 sit all day long at the thrush's feet, drinking in every 

 note that the thrush uttered. As in the case of 

 Bill Sykes' dependents, its affection was proof against 

 all ill-treatment ; for although the thrush would 

 constantly chase it away, and peck it until the 

 feathers flew thick, it would always come back and 

 sit enraptured by the side of the scornful object of 

 its choice. Finally, it has taken to singing to itself, 

 in gentle undertones, a song in which all the thrush's 



