132 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
. We can not accept the conclusion of the writer quoted above, that 
fear for particular things remains in the main instinctive.” Fear and 
association, as we have seen, are without doubt developed, like all else, 
by a gradual process, however abrupt certain reactions of fear may 
appear. ‘The normal and usual reactions of daily life seem to go 
through a sifting process; the usual pass readily through the sieve of 
experience and are stamped as harmless by association, provided they 
are really harmless, or at least not disagreeable. Further, there seems 
to be left a residue of strange or unusual sights, sounds or tactual 
stimuli, ready to produce the fear manifestation, at a moment’s call, 
when this particular stage in the developing instinct has been reached. 
The reaction is instinctive, but in no true sense would it seem to be the 
inherited fear of any particular object or thing. Fear of objects having 
particular, inherent qualities, which are harmful or unpleasant can 
come only from experience of their harmful or disagreeable effects. 
Habits of Young Kingfishers —In my work on “ The Home Life of 
Wild Birds,” I have described some curious habits which kingfishers 
show when taken from their underground nest at an early age, espe- 
cially the habit of sitting still, and of walking backwards. The earlier 
observations were made over ten years ago, and thinking that some 
other questions might be involved, such as the rising instinct of fear, 
experiments were repeated on another family of these birds in the sum- 
mer of 1908. When dug out of the ground on July 8, the five young 
in this case were found lying twenty-eight inches below the surface, at 
the end of a six-foot tunnel; they were in “ pin-feathers,” and according 
to my estimate about eight days old. Experiments were made on the 
ninth, fourteenth, twentieth and twenty-third days, when the young 
were at an age approximately corresponding to the date, with the fol- 
lowing results; fear did not seem to play any part as a disturbing or 
inhibitory factor in their behavior during the first two days; they would 
go forward or backward, rather indiscriminately, whatever their position 
might be with reference to the observer, and whatever the nature of the 
surface upon which they were placed. On subsequent days, the tend- 
ency to walk backward increased, and though fear was rising, they were 
readily quieted, and when placed in certain positions they would sit 
quiet for long intervals. 
The following notes were made on the behavior of these kingfishers 
on the last day of observation, July 23; when placed on the pine carpet, 
all began to make off with fluttering wings, going forward with crests 
erect and rattles sounding. When recovered ard placed in line, they 
soon quieted, and the backward walking movements began (see Figs. 
31 and 32). All showed the same tendency, and one, in which it was 
especially marked, would retreat four feet before the camera could be 
focused, and this was repeated for the twentieth time. The same per- 
