BIRDS AND MAN 43 



about they fly close to and examine it for a few 

 moments, then dart away ; if it comes too near the 

 nest they will attack it, or threaten an attack. 

 When examining their nests I have had humming- 

 birds dash into my face. The action is similar to 

 that of a stingless, solitary carpenter bee, common 

 in La Plata : a round burly insect with a shining 

 steel-blue body : when the tree or bush in which 

 this bee has its nest is approached by a man 

 it darts about in an eccentric manner, humming 

 loudly, and at intervals remains suspended motion- 

 less for ten or fifteen seconds at a height of 

 seven or eight yards above his head ; suddenly 

 it dashes quick as lightning into his face, inflicting 

 a sharp blow. The bee falls, as if stunned, a 

 space of a couple of feet, then rises again to repeat 

 the action. 



There is certainly a wide difference between so 

 simple an instinctive action as this, which cannot 

 be regarded as intelligent or conscious, and the 

 actions of most birds in the presence of danger to 

 their eggs or young. In species that breed on the 

 ground in open situations the dangers to which bird 

 and nest are exposed are of different kinds, and, 

 leaving out the case of that anomalous creature, 

 man, we see that as a rule the bird's judgment is 



