Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1892 — HONK! HONK? HONK! [ARTICLE]

HONK! HONK? HONK!

—— Interesting Facts As to the Journey ings of Migrating Birds. Baltimore Sun. —- Another arctic expedition returned from the north a few days ago. Its arrival was announced by a loud “Honk I Honk! " far up in the sky. It was composed of eleven members, and was headed by a gray veteran, who led his forces,arranged in the form of a letter V, without thb slightest deviation, due South. It was the wild goose expedition,which having summered in the arctics, had decided to winter in more temperate climes. It 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 their course. Their action was influenced not by what psychologists know as higher cerebration. As the country folks say, they felt ; it in their bones that it was time to move southward, and south they ; went under the wonderful influence i of instinct. To the older philosophers, instinct was a far more wonderful thing than it appears now. They asserted that all the actions of the lower animals were performed through instinct,and explained that they possessed this faculty in lieu of 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. , Indeed, 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 locality than in another. The hereditary memory, so to speak, pointed out the place where more food was to be obtained with less exertion. Gradually other surround-, ings suggested themselves as agreeable to the embryo mind, and these, repeated through many generations, created that unthinking tendency toward a particular place or climate, regardless of its original fitness. Almost a*l our ideas are gained from association, and it is fair to immagine that the constant and i repeated association of a particular locality with a pleasurable sensation —the satiation of . hunger, for example—would soon identify the sen- _ i sation with the place. Then would be evolved the sentiment of home, a ~senHt»ent~ffihich we feel only more keenly than the~ToweT™inrtTiiais"“be* — cause it is associated not only with the place where there is something to eat, but because of other pleasurable sensations associated with it, as they are constantly found in the same locality. It is a mistake to regard the migratory instincts of animals as unerring. Every woodsman has observed how a particulay species of bird will apparently desert a certain locality for another for one or more seasons. Occasionally this may result fram choice, but it seems altogether more probable that it is from some mistake on the part of the birds themselves. Their generally accurate course has been deluded by some circumstance, and they have made their home elsewhere. In the case of stragg ers this is particularly marked. They rarely succeed in rejoining the main body to which | they originally belonged, and are j forced to be content with whatever suitable place may be found. Migratory animals and b'rds are almost always gregarious: that is. they live and especially they travel in compact flocks or herds. They do this for one reason only, that the ■ wisdom of a number is greater than that of any one. Any error in the route would be detected by one or another and thence communicated to I 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 wings, or some hitherto unknown country becomes the new home of the home seekers. But there is much that is very wonderful and awe inspiring in the instinct that guides them. If, indeed, it is merelv 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 inclinations are we transmitting to pur children which may in later generations develop to good or evil? Are we steering a straight course like the old gray goose? t. Rub fine kid shoes once a wo'L with a mixture of equal parts of gly- ; cerine and castor oiL They will ' then never crack. v \ ;• *■ • \ • ■ : **