ABSTRACT
"Innate information" about how the specific song ought to sound is situated in a template that lies exclusively on the sensory, or receptor, side of the neural mechanisms involved in the whole behaviour pattern. This chapter deals with what in ordinary language is often referred to as "the problem of instinct". The word instinct originally meant "driven from within," and since it was used primarily in relation to human behaviour, it is still loosely employed to refer particularly to the more compelling and little understood springs of human action. Darwin of course was a field naturalist and indeed his work inspired scientific natural history studies of great moment in the field of marine biology. The chapter considers in more detail the significance of learning and the way in which it adjusts, and is itself controlled by, the instinctive or innate organisation of the animal.
