AN ESSAY ON BIRD-MIND 125 



five or six successful catches she missed the twig. A 

 comic sideways and downward glance at the twig, 

 falling and fallen, in meditative immobility ; and 

 then another twig was broken off, and the same game 

 repeated. She was very clever at catching ; the 

 only bird that I have seen come up to her was a 

 Toucan in the Zoo which could catch grapes thrown 

 at apparently any speed. But then the Toucan had 

 been specially trained — ^an.d had the advantage of a 

 huge capacity of bill ! 



Here again it might, of course, be said that the 

 catching of twigs is a practice for beak and eye, and 

 helps keep the bird in training for the serious business 

 of catching fish. This is no doubt true ; but, as 

 regards the evolution of the habit, I incline strongly 

 to the belief that it must be quite secondary — that 

 the bird, desirous of occupying its restless self in a 

 satisfying way, fell back upon a modification of its 

 everyday activities, just as these are drawn upon in 

 other birds to provide much of the raw material of 

 courtship. There is no evidence that young Darters 

 play at catching twigs as preparation for their fishing, 

 and until there is evidence of this it is simpler to think 

 that the play habit here, instead of being rooted by 

 the utilitarian dictates of natural selection in the 

 behaviour of the species, as with kids or kittens, is a 

 secondary outcome of leisure and restlessness combining 

 to operate with natural aptitude — in other words, 

 true sport, of however simple a kind. 



