BIRDS— GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 317 



The Central Prison at Agra is the roosting-place of great 

 numbers of the common blue pigeon ; they fly out to the neigh- 

 bouring country for food every morning, and return in the 

 evening, when they drink at a tank just outside the prison walls. 

 In this tank are a large number of fresh-water turtles, which lie 

 in wait for the pigeons just under the surface of the water and 

 at the edge of it. Any bird alighting to drink near one of 

 these turtles has a good chance of having its head bitten off and 

 eaten ; and the headless bodies of pigeons have been picked up 

 near the water, showing the fate which has sometimes befallen 

 the birds. The pigeons, however, are aware of the danger, and 

 have hit on the following plan to escape it. A pigeon comes in 

 from its long flight, and, as it nears the tank, instead of flying 

 down at once to the water's edge, will cross the tank at about 

 twenty feet above its surface, and then fly back to the side from 

 which it came, apparently selecting for alighting a safe spot 

 which it had remarked as it flew over the bank ; but even when 

 such a spot has been selected the bird will not alight at the 

 edge of the water, but on the bank about a };ard from the water, 

 and will then run down quickly to the water, take two or three 

 hurried gulps of it, and then fly off to repeat the same process 

 at another part of the tank till its thirst is satisfied. I had 

 often watched the birds doing this, and could not account for 

 their strange mode of drinking till told by my friend the super- 

 intendent of the prison, of the turtles which lay in ambush for 

 the pigeons. 



As a still more remarkable instance of the display of 

 intelligence by a bird of this species, I shall quote the 

 following observation of Commander E. H. Napier, also 

 published in ' Nature ' (viii., p. 324) : — 



A number of them (pouters) were feeding on a few oats 

 that had been accidentally let fall while fixing the nose-bag on 

 a horse standing at bait. Having finished all the grain at hand, 

 a large ' pouter ' rose, and flapping its wings furiously, flew 

 directly at the horse's eyes, causing the animal to toss his head, 

 and in doing so, of course shake out more corn, I saw this 

 several times repeated — in fact, whenever the supply on hand 

 had been exhausted. . . . Was not this something more than 

 instinct 1 



The following display of intelligence on the part of 

 swallows is communicated to me by Mr. Charles Wilson. 



