162 BIKDS 



BIRDS' LIKING FOB MAN 



After reading letters in the Spectator regarding the 

 intelligence of animals, I thought it might interest your 

 readers to hear of the intelligence of a sea-bird of my 

 acquaintance. When sitting on the beach at Nevin with 

 my wife and children we saw a large flock of sea-gulls 

 resting on the water out in the middle of the bay, perhaps 

 two or three hundred yards away. With them were a 

 few birds of darker colour. One of my boys, why I don't 

 know, whistled to them, and to our great surprise one of 

 the darker birds left the flock and swam to the shore, 

 coming up the beach to our feet. It proved to be a young 

 guillemot. The bird showed no sign of fear, but was 

 quite at ease and stayed with us the whole of the after- 

 noon. At the time, thousands of young sandhoppers were 

 bounding into the air from the wet sand. One of my sons 

 suggested that the guillemot might be offered a few. The 

 suggestion was acted upon and the bird ate them freely 

 with evident enjoyment, and after a time withdrew to 

 rejoin his companions. Having a small tent on the beach 

 we frequently went down on the sands to tea. You may 

 imagine our surprise when on whistling for the bird next 

 day the little guillemot promptly responded to the call, 

 and while we took tea the bird had a full meal of sand- 

 hoppers. These visits were often repeated. But on call- 

 ing at the tent one morning how great were our sorrow 

 and surprise to see the little bird lying on the sand in the 

 middle of the tent floor dead. The verdict " found " 

 by a small and sorrowing jury was that of " died from a 

 surfeit of sandhoppers." That a sea-bird should leave his 

 companions while at such a distance in answer to the 

 whistle of a stranger seems incredible. 



E. LLOYD JONES. 



NOTE. My own view is that many birds have a natural 

 liking for human beings as for other large mammals. 



