Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1913-11-28
INSTINCT ONLY GUIDE
Birds and Insects That Occa.
SionaIy Make BlunderS.
Feashered Creatures Accused of Gun.
wisdom" in the Selection of Sites
for Nests-Ant Is Not Always
Wise.


l.ondon.-The wisdom of the little
people" is a subject of never failing
charm to those who love them. and 1t
IS with certain degree of hesitation
that draw your attention to one or
TWO curious instances of what may be
termed 'unwisdom." says a writer in
the London Weekly Telegraph. They
are worth studying. because they
throw some light on the vexed ques-
ton of instinct versus reason. No
subject is better worth attention, none
more frequently misunderstood, for
many an action which we carelessly
assign to intelligence is really the re-
suit of instinct.
A bird does not learn to build a nest
nor does it reason out the best way of
setting to work. 1t simply follows it's
instinct and acts as countless genera
uons of its kind have done in the past.
remember such busy worker cannot
De said to be following the example OF
It's parents since 1t never saw them at
work Even better instances of this
may be found among the teeming
members of the insect world for they
are usually orphaned at the time of
their birth, yet they contrive to carry
out the most complicated work with
no one to guide them, and no pattern
before them.
Wisdom. then. is clearly a word
winch must not be too lightly used.
and, perhaps, | ought not to accuse the
little workers Of lack of it, but rather
OF occasional blunders. Exact terms
are always dangerous things to deal
with, for they tempt one to wander
INTO the maze of definition. and once
there it is difficult to get away again
The man who knows more of the
ways of spiders than. perhaps, any one
else in the world-of course, mean
nj. Faber-for long time studied the
habits of that maternal spider which
carries sort Of egg basket about with
her, instead of depositing her eggs in
a suitable spot and leaving them alone
The spider in question has come in
for much praise, the tender solicitude
she betrays for her future brood be-
ing beautiful, Alas, when she is made
the victim of sort of practical joke
and has a little round OF cork given
her instead of her precious treasure.
she carries it Just as carefully. and
never finds out the difference.
Ants, in spite OF their Wanted wis
DOM may be tricked in much the
same way, being made to carry such
lumber as beads under the impress
sion that they are harvesting. Their
mistake. however. is not as sad in its
results as that Of the fly. which lays
its eggs on the evil smelling carrion
plant under the impression that it has
found a particularly putrid, and there
fore desirable, piece of meat.
Birds occasionally. though only occa-
sionally. make sad blunders in their
choice of a nesting site. some of the
water fowl laying in a spot which is
pretty sure to be under water before
the eggs are Matched. Again, In some
instances, two cuckoo eggs have been
discovered in the same nest, and the
bird has been blamed for making such
a mistake as to imagine that two chill.
dren of hers could possibly occupy
such cramped quarters / am not sat.
isfied that this criticism is fair, be-
cause it is possible that the eggs are
those of two rivals, though even then
it might be argued that the second
bird ought to know better than to
choose a nest already engaged. That
she should fail to do so is, perhaps,
yet another example of this most I'M
motherly birds brutal Indifference to
her offspring's future. She really is
shocking.
But, perhaps, the strangest blunder
of all is that made by the lemming,
which marches in its thousands down
to the sea, and, to all intents and pur-
poses. commits the crime of felo-de.se.
If he really means to end his days
then we cannot fairly describe the ac-
ton as a blunder The general opin-
ion is, however, that the deed is the
result of mistake-surely the most
gigantic ever made. The lemming.
however. is too interesting a creature
to be dismissed lightly. He must have
a paragraph to himself some day. He
is the strangest and most persistent
suicide that ever died