DECEPTION. 527 



animal. Mrs. Burton speaks of a learned Syrian donkey 

 that fell down and pretended to die,' allowing himself to 

 be ' dragged about by his tail, ears and legs,' apparently as 

 a mere piece of acting. 



Many game and other birds feign lameness, or other 

 forms of disablement from wounds, for the purpose of draw- 

 ing the sportsman, or his dog, from the neighbourhood of 

 their nests or young. They have a specific, intelligible and 

 commendable object in view; and they attain it in the most 

 ingenious, appropriate and successful way. To this category 

 belong the familiar stratagems, or wiles, of the lapwing, 

 corncraik and golden plover (Baird). The shore-lark coun- 

 terfeits lameness, assumes a mimic wretchedness involving 

 the use of a plaintive note (Baird). The partridge decoys 

 the dog by similar means (Markwick). The male especially 

 trails its wing as if wounded before a dog that approaches 

 its nest. The riverside bunting, skylark and yellow-hammer 

 are other birds that lure man away from their nests or 

 young by the personation of being wounded and helpless 

 (' Science Gossip'). 



The ruffed grouse of North America feigns lameness to 

 draw attention from its nest (Gillmore). Such feigning of 

 disablement, for the purpose of luring man or other animals 

 from the vicinity of their nests or young, is not uncommon 

 in British small birds in mother birds especially for in- 

 stance, the chaffinch (' Science Gossip '). The Duke of 

 Argyll mentions a blackcap falling to the ground from a 

 bush as if wounded, ' in order to distract attention from its 

 nest.' 



Of the great rock partridge of Tibet Prejevalsky says : 

 ' If danger be near, particularly when the young are very 

 small, the old birds will run about twenty paces from the 

 sportsman and try to attract his attention by feigning lame- 

 ness or illness, as our partridges will often do at home.' 



The stickleback diverts from its nest any foe too powerful 

 for its attack, using the artifice in such a case of engaging 

 in ' the pursuit of an imaginary prey,' according to Coste. 



Another mode of protecting nests is adopted by the trap- 

 door spider of New Zealand, which, according to Gillies, 



