Los Angeles herald., 1893-01-07
INSTINCT IN ANIMALS.

The Influence Which Urges Birds to
Change Their Home with the Seasons.
To the older philosophers instinct was
Q far more wonderful thing than it ap-
pears now. They asserted that all the
actions of the lower animals were per-
formed through instinct, and explained
That they possessed this faculty in lieu
q intelligence, which was the peculiar
attribute of man. This was, however,
soon exploded by the demonstration of
the possession of intelligence among
animals and of instinct by man. In
deed the later philosophers have come to
believe that almost all the actions Of
man are influenced if not controlled by
instinct alone.
The tendency to migration of certain
species of animals is plainly referable to
this hereditary influence. Originally,
no doubt, migration occurred because
food was more easily found in one To-
cality than in another. The hereditary
memory, so to speak, pointed out the
place where more food was to be OBJ
tanned with less exertion. Gradually
other surroundings suggested themselves
as agreeable to the embryo mind, and
and these, repeated through many gen
eratiuns, created that unthinking tend
ency toward particular place or eli
mate regardless of its original fitness.
Almost all our ideas are gained from
association, and it is fair to imagine that
the constant and repeated association of
particular locality, with pleasurable
sensation-the satiation of hunger, for
exsmple-would soon identify the SEN
sation with the place. Then would be
evolved the sentiment of home, sentl-
ment which we feel only more keenly
than the lower animals because it is as
sociated not only with the place where
there is something to eat, but because
Of other pleasurable sensations associated
with it, as they are as constantly found
in the same locality.
1t is mistake to regard the migratory
instincts of animals as unerring. Every
yoodsman has observed how a particu-
hr species of bird will apparently desert
certain locality for another for one or
more seasons. Occasionally this may
result from choice, but it seems alto
gether more probable that it is from
some mistake on the part of the birds
themselves. Their generally accurate
course has been detected by some cir
cumstance, and they have made their
homes elsewhere. In the case of strag-
glers this is particularly marked. They
rarely succeed in rejoining the maiE
body to which they originally belonged,
and are forced to be content with what
ever suitable place may be found.
Migratory animals and birds are al
most always gregarious-that is, they
live and especially they travel in COM
pact focks or herds. They do this for
one reason only-that the wisdom of
number is greater than that of any one.
Any error in the route would be detected
by one or another and thence communi-
Gated to the whole flock. Once in a
while they are all mistaken, and then
some incoming steamer serves as point
of rest for the tired little wings, or some
hitherto unknown country becomes the
new home Of the home seekers.
But there is much that is very Won
derful and awe inspiring in the instinct
that guides them. If indeed it is merely
the reflex of the memory of long de-
parted ancestors-if the thoughts as
well as the sins of the father descend to
remote generations, what tendencies
and inclinations are we transmitting to
our children which may in later genera
tions develop to good or evil? Are we
steering straight course, like the old
gray goose?-Baltimor Sun.