402 WILD BIRDS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



detect the presence of the human enemy, they are off 

 before he can get anywhere near them ; and yet at the 

 same time it is curious to remark that such an appar- 

 ently alarming object as a train passing close by at 

 full speed with the usual amount of noise, in some places 

 does not alarm them. * They have learnt in fact, that 

 the noisy railway train always keeps to one track, and 

 never deviates from its course to do them an injury. 

 Consequently in places where they are accustomed to see 

 it, they regard its passage with indifference. Do the 

 birds do that without thinking ? It would be too long 

 to go into questions such as those of reason and instinct 

 here, which are eminently technical matters : we however 

 quote this example of reasoning faculties among wild 

 birds as an instance of how quickly even the most 

 easily alarmed species come to recognize the true enemy 

 from the false one ; if a " permanent way " official 

 walked along the line, in the ordinary course of his 

 duty, these birds would decamp before he got within 

 several hundred yards of them. 



In the same way, all kinds of the wildest birds will 

 walk about and feed, surrounded by herds of cattle, 

 sheep, or other animals, either wild or domestic, with- 

 out exhibiting the slightest signs of alarm; yet if a 

 human being of any sort appears within sight, they 

 fly off at once: more than that, if they see that cattle 

 or sheep have sighted a man, by their standing gazing 

 in his direction, both wild birds, and also quadrupeds 

 will instantly accept the hint and make off to safer 



* We may cite as an instance herons seen on the marine lagoons 

 near Malahide, County Dublin. The Great Northern Railway of Ireland 

 has constructed embankments right across these places, and these birds 

 may be seen almost always standing in the shallows close by, when 

 the trains are passing, without flying off. 



