32 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



enhance the pleasure experienced. One was in the 

 thought of the birds' striking intelligence, as shown 

 by their changed demeanour during their daily visits 

 to that camping-spot on the marsh where they relax 

 their extreme wildness. It is often borne in on me 

 in observing birds that the position of a species or 

 family in the scale of nature from the point of view of 

 the anatomist and evolutionist is not a criterion of 

 its intelligence. Thus the Anatidaj, or ducks, which 

 in any natural classification would be placed far below 

 the crows and parrots, are mentally equal to the 

 highest of the bird order. It was purely the intelli- 

 gence of these geese which made it possible for me to 

 observe them so nearly at that spot, which was no 

 sand-bar with the protecting sea all round it, but a 

 small space in the very midst of the enemies' country. 

 It gave me even a higher pleasure to think that 

 there are still a few great landowners in England, like 

 the present and the late Lord Leicester, who do not 

 look on our noble bird life as something to be de- 

 stroyed for sport, or in the interests of sport, until 

 it has been wiped out of existence. It is not only 

 the geese which receive protection here. Ducks in 

 thousands are accustomed to winter in the park at 

 Holkham. All breeding species, from the beautiful 

 sheldrake to the small redshank and ringed dotterel, 

 are protected as much as they can be in a place where 

 everyone has a gun and wants to get something for 

 the pot. In summer the common and lesser tern 

 have their breeding-place on the sand-hills, and a 

 watcher is placed there to prevent them from being 



