Instinct and education.—From the first, the chick performs [Pg 297] certain movements which are obviously instinctive, that is, which have not been acquired by any process of imitation or instruction. Even in the egg, it may be heard chirping soon after it has taken its first breath of air; and the complex activities of walking, running, jumping over obstacles, and, later, preening the feathers and scratching the ground—each of which involves the nicest adjustment of several muscles—are also instinctive. Certain other powers have to be learnt; the hen, for example, lifts and drops before the chick a particle of food which she wishes it to seize, and it soon learns to peck. At first its pecks generally fall a little short of the objects, but presently it becomes very adroit at catching food. “A chick a day or so old will catch a running fly at from the seventh to the twelfth shot.”[19] There does not appear to be much instinctive recognition of the difference between objects which are valuable as food and those which are the reverse. Such discrimination comes only by experience, and to a very young chick a piece of red worsted and a small worm are equally attractive before being seized. In the same way, the nature of water has to be learnt. Chicks peck at drops of water, but do not seem to know the use of water until their beaks are wetted, when they drink instinctively in the usual manner. The use of the wings is also a matter of instinct, but it is acquired somewhat late, and is assisted by parental encouragement and example even in birds which are noted for their powers of flight. Fowls do not fly much, but chicks may be observed to use their wings as an aid in running or jumping. Prof. Lloyd Morgan[20] quotes an interesting experiment which shows well how deeply the reliance on flight is stamped in bird-nature. “If a chick a day or two old be placed in a basket, held firmly in the hand, and then lowered rapidly through the air, the fledgling will stretch out his little [Pg 298] immature wings in such an attitude as would make them break the fall were they fully developed; or will, if he be a little older, flap them with flight-like action, in either case showing an instinctive response.”