234 MENTAL FACULTIES SEC. 



remained close to me, flying from twig to twig, expecting I 

 should throw him something for the young ones which he had 

 to feed, and which were crying for food among the bushes. 



Still further removed from instinct are the following 

 instances of mental operations in birds. 



The cunning of sparrows and their prudence with regard 

 to danger is well known. One snowy winter recently, when 

 the sparrows around the house were very hungry, I made an 

 attempt to catch a number under a large sieve, the edge of 

 which was supported on one side by a piece of wood, which 

 was connected with a long string : the string was covered up 

 in the snow, and passed through an opening in the door into 

 the house, where my little son watched, ready to pull the 

 string as soon as some sparrows went under the sieve. Corn 

 was strewed about under the sieve and around it as bait. 

 The sparrows gathered in dozens round the sieve, and picked 

 up the corn up to its very edge to the last grain, then flew 

 round and screamed at the sieve in hunger and rage, but not 

 one was enticed under it. 



Such facts are sufficiently familiar, yet the intelligence of 

 animals astonishes any one when he sees it himself for the 

 first time. 



Recently a friend showed me how one can feed the tomtits 

 in winter abundantly without having to fear that the 

 impudent sparrows will steal the food. He has on his 

 verandah boxes nailed to the wall and posts, in which he puts 

 the food. The tits take the food out of these, but the 

 sparrows are afraid the boxes might be dangerous to them, 

 might contain something intended to destroy them, or that 

 they might be caught in them, and therefore they leave the 

 food untouched. As they know well that at other times they 

 are pursued by the owner of the house and the tits not, the 

 fact that the tits suffer no harm by taking the food in the 

 boxes is not enough to remove their distrust. This high 



