The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1873-02-08

Instinct in Chickens.

Instinct i'm Chickens.
From an essay recently read before
the British Association by one of its
members, we make the following In
teresting extract:
A chicken at the end of six minutes
after having it's eyes unveiled, fol.
lowed with its head the movements Of
a fly twelve inches distant; at ten
minutes, the fly coming within reach
Of its neck was seized and swallowed
at the first stroke; at the end of twenty
minutes it had not attempted to walk
a step: 1t was then placed on rough
ground within the sight Of a hen, with
chickens of it's own age. After stand
ing chirping for about n minute, it
went straight toward the hen, display
ing as keen a perception Of the quail
ties Of the outer world as it was ever
likely to possess in after life. It never
required to knock its head against
stone to discover there was "no
road that way" 1t leaped over the
smaller obstacles that lay in its path,
and ran around the larger, reaching
the mother in as near a straight line
us the nature Of the ground would
permit. Thus it would seem that,
prior to experience, the eye-at least
the eye of the chicken-perceives the
primary qualities of the external world.
all arguments of the purely analytical
school Of psychology to the contrary
notwithstanding.
Not less, decisive were experiments
ON hearing. Chickens Matched and
kept in the dark for day OF two, ON
being placed in the light nine or ten
feet from box in which a brooding
hen was concealed, after standing e
chirping for a minute or two, uniformly
set off straight to the box in answer
to the call of the hen which they had
never seen and never before heard.
This they did struggling through the
grass and over rough ground, when
not able to stand steadily on their legs.
Again, chickens that from the first
had been denied the use of their eyes
by having hoods drawn over their
heads while yetin the shell, were while
thus blind made the subject of exper-
iment. These, when left to themselves,
seldom made a forward step; their
movements were round and round and
backward; but when placed within
five or six feet of the hen mother, they,
in answer to her call, became much
more lively, began to make little for
ward journeys, and soon followed her
by sound alone, though, Of course,
blind!y. Another experiment consis-
ted in rendering chickens deaf for q
time by sealing their cars with several
folds OF gum paper before they had
eseal,ea aa3faln the shell These, on
having their ears opened when two
or three days old, and being placed
within call Of the mother, concealed
in box or on the other side of a door,
after turning round a few times ran
straight to the spot whence came the
first sound they had ever heard.
Clearly, of these chikens it can not be
said that sounds We're to them at first
but meaningless sensations.
One or two observations favorable
to the opinion that animals have an
instructive knowledge of their enc
mics may be taken for what they are
worth. When twelve days old one of
my little proteges running about be-
side me, gave the peculiar ehirp where
by they announce the approach of
danger. On looking up, a sparrow
hawk was seen lowering at a great
height overhead. Again, young
hawk was made to fly over a hen with
her first brood of chickens, then about
IL week old. In the twinkling of an
eye most of the chickens were hid
among grass and bushes. And scarce
ly had the hawk touched the ground,
about twelve yards from where the
hen had been sitting, when she fell
upon it, and would soon have killed
it outright. A young turkey gave
even more striking evidence. When
ten days old it heard the voice of the
hawk for the first time, and just be-
side-it. Like an arrow from the bow
it darted off in the opposite direction,
and, crouched in a corner, remained
for ten minutes motionless and dumb
with fear. Out Of {: vast number of
with chickens and bees,
though the results were not uniform,
yet in the great majority Of instances
the chickens gave evidence of instinc-
tive fear of these sting bearing in
sects.
Going Home With Sally.