On coming and going.



201



over, panic amongst most classes of birds is very infectious, and

when one gives an alarm cry the others start at once.


Last January, when distinct sounds of an air-ship’s engines

were heard one night, both the wild pheasants and all the other

birds were absolutely still; subsequently the wild pheasants began

calling at intervals in the same way as on the March Sunday evening,

and the following day it appeared that numerous bombs had been

dropped in the vicinity of a town in an adjacent county.


It would however, in my opinion, be a mistake to think that

wild pheasants are only excited in times of Teutonic visitations ;

thunder, or any sudden sound, will alarm them. Some time since,

when there were naval operations in the North Sea and many people

(from Cumberland eastward) felt it their duty to record in the Press

the alarm of pheasants in their own neighbourhood, I was amused

to note that the pheasants in the woods near my house made the

greatest outcry of the season two days before the naval operations

took place, doubtless frightened by some comparatively near sound.


The powers of birds—whether in captivity or otherwise—for


hearing and seeing appear simply amazing. Notice the behaviour of


a Demoiselle crane when a heron goes over, a mere speck in the sky ;


notice the difference in conduct in a spur-wing plover between seeing


a distant lapwing and any other bird, and then with Tennyson


lament : “ Our hearing is not hearing,


And our seeing is not sight.”



COMING AND GOING.


By Miss R. Alderson.


Most of us have sent away birds to other homes, or have

received them, but to some members, who are just starting bird¬

keeping, a few hints on providing for the comfort of a bird whilst

travelling may not be out of place.


I remember once I was sending away a canary, and a lady

friend, who was not a bird-keeper, asked me how I should send it;

if it would go by post!


Now while all of us know better than my friend, yet there

are many small details to be considered which conduce to a bird’s

comfort.



