1 66 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PL A Y 



on the water. In this case they lifted it from the 

 surface and tried to assist it to fly. The terns, like 

 the carrion-crow, not only showed sympathy, but 

 were able to translate it into action. Other birds, 

 either less intelligent or less indifferent to the danger 

 which the presence of a human spectator suggests, 

 exhibit the same concern for wounded mates or com- 

 panions by flying round them or alighting near the 

 sufferer. St John mentions a case of a sheldrake 

 which would not leave its wounded mate ; and peewits 

 will sometimes return and hover over wounded birds, 

 especially early in the year, before the full-grown 

 young have learnt the extreme caution which marks 

 their behaviour later in the season. But perhaps the 

 most remarkable instance of ' aid to the weak ' re- 

 corded of birds was shown by a brood of young 

 swallows. These had left the nest, and were sitting 

 in a row along the gutter, while the old birds fed 

 them alternately as they flew past. One of the 

 young ones, weaker and more backward than the 

 rest of the brood, was unable to raise itself sufficiently 

 to attract the notice of the parent birds as they flew 

 past, and two of the other young were seen to close 

 in on either side, and by shuffling underneath its body 

 to raise it until it was on a level with the others, and 

 able to receive its share of food. With such instances 

 i to the contrary, it cannot be maintained that the 



