The Penn's Grove record., 1894-03-16
BIRD ~MIoRATioNS.
rhs Philosophers Undecided Whether II
Is Due to Instinct, Intelligence or Habit

Is Due to Instinct, intelligence or Habit
Another arctic expedition returned
from the North a few days ago. 1t!
arrival was announced by a loud
.Honk! honk!" far uD in the sky.
1t was composed of eleven ocrs
and was headed by a gray veteran,
who led his forces, arranged in the
form of a letter V, without the slight.
est deviation due South. 1t was the
wild goose exposition, which, having
summered in the arctic, had decided
to winter In more temperate climes.
1t is not to be supposed that they
reasoned the question Of a change OF
location among themselves, consulted
almanacs and time tables or even.
compasses to reach their decision or
to decide on their course. Their ac-
zion was influenced not by what
psychologists know as higher cerebra-
zion. AS the country folks say, they
felt in their bones that it was time TO
move southwark, and South they
went under the wonderful influence
of what is called instinct.
To the older philosophers instinct
was q far more wonderful thing than
1t appears now. They asserted that
oil the actions of the lower animals
were performed through instinct and
explained that they posse iSed this
faculty In lieu Of intelligence, which
was the peculiar attribute Of man.
This was, however, o 0 exploded by
the demonstration OF the possession
of intelligence among animals and OF
instinct by man. Indeed the later
philosophers have come to believe
that almost all the actionsof man are
influenced, If not controlled, by in
stinct alone. Instinct itself has been
explained as hereditary intelligence;
that Is to say, the repeated actions
tof the ancestors are more readily ac-
,complished by the child without re-
gard TO the will or special adaptation.
The tendency to migration of cer-
tain species of ANIMALS is plainly re-
'ferable to this hereditary influence.
Originally, no doubt, migration oc-
| CURED because food was more easily
found in one locality than in another.
The hereditary memory, so to speak,
pointed out the place where more
food was to be obtained with less eX-
ertiou. Gradually other surroundings
suggested themselves as agreeable to
the embryo mind, and these, repeated
through many generations, created
that unthinking tendency toward a
a particular place or a particular
climate, regardless Of its original
fitness.
Almost all our ideas are gained
from association, aud it is fair to
imagine that the constant and re-
peated association OF a particular
| locality with q plcasurable sensation
the satiatiOn of hunger for example
would soon identify the sensation
with the place. Then would be
evolved the sentiment Of home, a
sentiment which we feel only more
keenly than the lower animals be-
cause it is associated, not only with
the place where there is something to
eat, but because of other ~pleasurab!e
sensations equally associated with it
as they are constantly found In the
same locality,
1t Is a mistake to regard the mi
gratcry instincts OF animals as unerr-
ing. Every woodsman has observed
how a particular species of bird will
apparently desert a certain locality
for another for one or more seasons,
Occasionally this may result from
choice, but it seems altogether more
probable that 1T is from some mis-
take on the part of the birds them
selves. Their generally accurate
course has been DETECTED by some
circumstance, and they have made
their homes elsewhere. In the case
of stragglers this is particularly
marked. They rarely succeed in re-
Joining the main body TO which they
originally belonged and are forced tt
be content with whatever suitable
place may be found. Migratory ami
mails and birds are almost always gre
garious, that is they live and es
pecially they travel IN compact iock'
or herds. They do this for one rea,
son only, that the wisdom of a mum
Der is greater than that of any one.
Any error in the route would be de-
tected by n or another and thence
communicated to the whole flock.
Once in a while they are all mistaken
and then some incoming steamer
serves as a point of rest for the tired
little wings, or some hitherto un
known country becomes the new homt
of the wandering home, seekers.
But thereis much that is very won
derful and awe inspiring in the in
stinct that guides them. If, indeed
it Is merely the reflex of the memory
of long-departed ancestors-if The
thoughts as well as the sins of The
father descend to remote generations
what tendencies and in~clinations arr
we transmitting to our children whicl
may in later generations develop tt
good or evil? Are we steering
straight course, like the old gre
goose?-Baltimore Sun.