The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-07-12
INSTINCT or ACQUISITION.

A ferret stranglcd herself by trying
to squeeze through too narrow an
opening. She left q very young fami-
ly of three orphans. These [ gave, in
the middle of the day to Brahma
hen which had been sitting on dunn
mics for about G month. She TOOK
to them almost Immediately, and re-
mainea with them rather more than q
fo] might, at the end Of which time 1
had to cause q separation, in conse-
oucrcc Of the hen having sufocatcd
one Of the fcrrets by standing on It's
neck. During the whole OF the tune
that the fcrrets were left with tho
hen the latter had to sit upon the nest;
for the Young fcrrets, Of course, were
not able to follow the hen about as
chickens would have done, Tho hen,
rs might be expected, was very much
PUZZLED at the lethargy OF her Off
sprinr. Two or three times g. day
she used to fly off the nest, calling
upon her brood to follow; but upon
hearing their cries OF distress from
cold, she always returned Immediate
ly and sat with patience for six or
seven hours more. I should have
said thati it only took the hen one day
to learn tho meaning of these cries Of
distress; for aft& the first day she
would always run in an agitated man
ner to any place where concealed tho
ferrets, provided that this place was
not too far away from the nest to pre-
vent her from hearing the cries Of
distress. Yet I do not think that it
would be possible to conceive Of a
greater contrast than that between
the shrill peeping note Of q young
chicken and the hoarse growing noise
Of young ferret. On the other hand,
cannot say that the young ferrets
ver seemed to learn the meanings OF
the hens clucking. During the whole
of the time that the hen was allowed
to sit upon the ferrets she used to
comb out their hair with her bill, in
the same way as hens in general comb
out the feathers of their chickens.
While engaged in this process, how
ever, she used frequently to stop and
look with one eye at the wiggling nest
full with an inquiring gaze expressive
of astonishment. At other times, al
so, her family gave her good reason to
be surprised; for she used often to
fly off the nest suddenly with q loud
scream-an action which was doubt
less due to the unaccustomcd sensa-
ton Of being nippcd by the young fer
rets In their search for the teats. 1t Is
further worth while to remark that
the hen showed so much uncasincss
Of mind when the ferrcts were taken
from her to be fed that at one time l
thought she Was going to desert them
altogether After this, therefore, the
ferrets were always fed in the nest,
and with this arrangement the hen
was perfectly satisfied - apparently
because she thought that she then had
some share in the feeding process.
At any rate she used to cluck when
she saw the milk coming, and sur
veycd the feeding with evident salts
faction. Altogether I consider this
very remarkable instance OF the plas-
ticity of instinct. The hen it should
be said, was young one, and had
never reared a brood of chickens. A
few months before she reared the
young ferrets she had been attacked
and nearly killed by an old ferret
which had escaped from his hutch.
The young fcrrcts were taken from
her several days before their eyes
were open.-NGture.