INTELLIGENT BIRDS.
Two moving stories of the affection and intelligence of birds are told in a paper published by the enterprising Women's Institute Federation of Norfolk. In each ease birds sought human help when their fellows were in trouble : a mother duck came to beg the keeper (in Lord Grey's sanctuary) to disengage a duckling from a wire fence in which it was entangled ; a pigeon drew attention to a drowning companion. This second example is from France. A M. Ferrier, walking in his park near Lille, was almost mobbed by four pigeons ; and when he reached the edge of his lake one perched on a boat and looked at him" with marked insistence," however that is done. Finally it threw itself on the water, rose again, and with the others again flew round M. Ferrier. Then at last he noticed a fifth pigeon on the point of drowning. He rescued it and found it to be a marked Homer. Apart from the question of intelligence, which, of course, is the gist of the story, it is curious how often soused, if not drowning, pigeons are discovered. I know of several. iVe found one in a ford on the Lea. It was a Homer ; and a specialist in Homers, living in the village, said that tired birds would often come down to drink and were too tired to be cautious enough on entering the water.
W. BEACH T110}1-1.5.
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