The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4): A Plain Story Simply ToldThomson, J. Arthur (John Arthur)
Science
The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4): A Plain Story Simply Told
Thomson, J. Arthur (John Arthur)
Science
Instinctive aptitudes, then, the young birds have, but these are more
limited than in ants, bees, and wasps; and the reason is to be found in
the fact that the brain is now evolving on the tack of what Sir Ray
Lankester has called "educability." Young birds _learn_ with prodigious
rapidity; the emancipation of the mind from the tyranny of hereditary
obligations has begun. Young birds make mistakes, like the red worsted
mistake, but they do not make the same mistakes often. They are able to
profit by experience in a very rapid way. We do not mean that creatures
of the little-brain type, like ants, bees, and wasps, are unable to
profit by experience or are without intelligence. There are no such
hard-and-fast lines. We mean that in the ordinary life of insects the
enregistered instinctive capacities are on the whole sufficient for the
occasion, and that intelligent educability is very slightly developed.
Nor do we mean that birds are quite emancipated from the tyranny of
engrained instinctive obligations, and can always "ring up" intelligence
in a way that is impossible for the stereotyped bee. The sight of a
pigeon brooding on an empty nest, while her two eggs lie disregarded
only a couple of inches away, is enough to show that along certain lines
birds may find it impossible to get free from the trammels of instinct.
The peculiar interest of birds is that they have many instincts and yet
a notable power of learning intelligently.
Intelligence co-operating with Instinct
Professor Lloyd Morgan was foster-parent to two moorhens which grew up
in isolation from their kindred. They swam instinctively, but they would
not dive, neither in a large bath nor in a current. But it happened one
day when one of these moorhens was swimming in a pool on a Yorkshire
stream, that a puppy came barking down the bank and made an awkward
feint towards the young bird. In a moment the moorhen dived, disappeared
from view, and soon partially reappeared, his head just peeping above
the water beneath the overhanging bank. This was the first time the bird
had dived, and the performance was absolutely true to type.
There can be little doubt as to the meaning of this observation. The
moorhen has an hereditary or instinctive capacity for swimming and
diving, but the latter is not so easily called into activity as the
former. The particular moorhen in question had enjoyed about two months
of swimming experience, which probably counted for something, but in the
course of that experience nothing had pulled the trigger of the diving
capacity. On an eventful day the young moorhen saw and heard the dog; it
was emotionally excited; it probably did to some extent intelligently
appreciate a novel and meaningful situation. Intelligence cooperated
with instinct, and the bird dived appropriately.
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