NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
586. Pond Life. — The tracks referred to by the Rev. F. M. Millard cannot 
have been made by water-snakes, because there are no water-snakes in this country, 
and although the grass-snake is fond of water, it is not likely that the tracks were 
made by one. If they were very narrow — say an inch wide or less — rats and 
water-voles would be out of the question, and newts and water-beetles are not 
given to swimming along the surface for any distance ; nor are fish. It seems, 
therefore, that water-shrews are the probable culprits, and they certainly are 
in the habit. I believe, of swimming on, or just under, the surface. I cannot, 
however, speak from actual e.xperience, as I hav'e never seen a water-shrew. 
Hale End, Chingford. C. Nicholson. 
587. The Parental Instinct. — The excellent article upon “Automatic 
and Induced Movements in the Organs and Parts of Plants,” published in the 
January number of Nature Notes, and therein connected mainly with the 
reproductive instincts (as you term them) in plants, leads me to offer an example 
of this remarkable instinct — for it is based upon reproduction — as shown in a 
pair of young bullfinches a year old, and brought up in captivity. 
On July 23 last — somewhat late in the season — a nest of three young fledg- 
ling bullfinches was discovered in our wood, consisting of thick hornbeam under- 
growth with dense briar and bramble thickets, coveting an area of over twenty 
acres and untouched for fifteen years — a veritable paradise for birds. These 
fledglings when found were only two or three days old. The next day one of 
their number was noticed dead upon the ground just under the nest, and the 
other two were taken, together with the nest, to the captive pair, and placed 
in their cage. The following day the infants were being attentively fed by their 
foster-parents, who from henceforth showed them the utmost devotion, and they 
now share the home as companion birds. The food placed at the disposal of the 
parents consisted of crushed biscuit and hemp-seed, together with seasonable 
seedy weeds, such as plantain, chickweed, &c., upon which ingredients the 
adopted family appeared to thrive remarkably well. 
The interesting aspect of this up-bringing is the fact that the foster-parents 
had no previous experience of rearing a brood, for the parental instinct had not 
been previously excited or matured by nest-building, laying, sitting, or feeding. 
The manifestation of the parental instinct in this case shows it to be adaptive 
in character, and it was common to the pair. 
Can such be looked upon as reflex action, stimulated by the presence of the 
nest and fledglings, or was it “instinct” in the ordinary scientific acceptation 
of the term? The duckling, immediately after emerging from the shell, will at 
once swim when placed in water, showing that the nervous mechanism for com- 
plicated associated movements is already there by long inheritance, needing only 
the presence of water to start the complex series of muscular co-ordinations. 
I cannot but believe that instinct is innate, and that it is something more than 
reflex action, insomuch as it appears to be definitely associated with stimulation 
through the higher centres, and it is also complicated. 
For the foster-parents there was an appeal at the proper season through sight, 
and possibly through emotions of affection, and the aid of the sense of taste — 
showing a relatively complex process, which was adaptive in character, the 
nervous mechanism being all laid down owing to its utility in “ maintaining the 
race,” and requiring in this instance only the presence of the helpless offspring 
to bring it out and manifest the parental care. 
This little incident lends favour to the view that “instinct” is a “lapsed 
intelligence,” and that it arose through intelligent accommodation, which in 
course of time became secondarily automatic, being transmitted by physical 
heredity. Much, of course could be said of “organic selection,” but I fear that 
already this account has been unduly extended. 
Claybury, ROBERT JONES, M.D. 
January l, 1908. 
588. The Goldfinch. — In the new Eversley edition of “The Works of 
Tennyson,” there are many interesting notes on birds and wild life. The redcap 
