2i8 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



power of flight, but the whole subject is one of the 

 most fascinating branches of natural history. No 

 reference has been made to the marvellous move- 

 ments of birds in the air, which constitute the 

 very poetry of motion the stationary balancing, 

 hovering, circling and gliding, all of which may be 

 observed, and especially among our own birds of 

 prey. 



Ill 



REASONING IN BIRDS 



THE power of reasoning in birds, if it exists at all, 

 does so in a much less degree than in other animals 

 of low organisation. In approaching this subject it 

 is difficult to divide reason from instinct, and both 

 from mere acts of memory performed under like 

 circumstances and producing like results. Instinct 

 is a convenient term made to stand for much vague 

 generalisation, under which much ignorance has 

 been and may be hidden. It is just possible that 

 that which we frequently call instinct may be 

 reason, and it is our purpose to set down several 

 instances of acts of wild birds which would seem to 

 imply the power of thought. 



At a certain country house the pheasants were 

 fed daily from a box, the lid of which rises with 



