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MENTAL POWEKS OF BIEDS. 
By a. LEITH ADAMS, M.B., F.R.S. 
T he mental faculties of birds are admitted to be greatly 
inferior to those of the higher quadrupeds, and such is the 
case no doubt ; but, irrespective of their remarkable instincts, 
they display other mental qualities of no very mean order. 
These we shall now consider individually, along with their 
accompanying gestures and utterances, so that the reader may 
consider how far they allow of being associated with, for ex- 
ample, the instinctive impulses that prompt the bird to migrate, 
or other well-known phenomena in relation to their nests and 
habits. 
In the first place certain mental powers in birds, as in higher 
animals, are improved by exercise, and many species and even 
individuals of the same species show a greater aptitude than 
others. Even instincts which are considered to be uninfluenced 
by teaching or example do often display variations expressive 
of both reason and judgment, whilst many acquired habits lapse 
after generations into instinctive actions. Fear is a good in- 
stance of an instinctive emotion which has been greatly 
strengthened by experience, and it is wonderful to observe the 
part man has played in increasing it in many birds. Let us 
compare the delineations on ancient Egyptian monuments, show- 
ing the fowler surprising flocks of water-birds among the tall 
papyrus swamps of the Delta, and dealing destruction among 
them by means of missiles made of small pieces of wood 
shaped like the letter S, and delivered with force and dexterity, 
with the practice now adopted, where, after all the caution 
possible, and aid of gunpowder, it is extremely difficult to get 
within even rifle range of such as the geese and ducks. But 
although these birds are much persecuted, there are others which 
contrast in this respect in a singular way with their brethren in 
other countries. The fearless habits of the kestrel of Egypt, as 
compared with its much oppressed brother in England, are not- 
able. No one molests it, and in the days of the Pharaohs, as 
