At Home with Wild Nature 



Although this would appear to be rather clever on 

 the part of the oyster catcher, females of the species 

 make rather stupid mothers. I have watched one in 

 the act of flying away from the nest with an empty egg- 

 shell turn a newly-hatched chick over on its back, and 

 upon returning sit down and cover the sprawling 

 creature in complete oblivion of its uncomfortable pos- 

 ture. I have also seen one lead her family of downlings 

 into a cul-de-sac amongst rough rocks, and instead of 

 flying down and showing them the way out she has 

 stood on the boulders at the closed end of the alley and 

 yelped at them for an hour without ceasing. 



Perhaps the most stupid and careless mother bird to 

 be found in the countryside is the common pheasant. 

 She will lead her family to water, and any chick that is 

 a little slower or thirstier than herself is left behind 

 without the slightest compunction. 



Some of the world's greatest observers have claimed 

 reasoning faculty for birds and beasts, whilst others 

 equally eminent have denied it. Fabre, the famous 

 French entomologist, trounced Erasmus Darwin un- 

 mercifully for ascribing such to a wasp, which, finding 

 it could not carry the body of a dead fly along in com- 

 fort on account of the resistance offered by the wings to 

 a breeze of wind, alighted, amputated the offending 

 members, and then sailed away in triumph with its 

 prey. Fabre, through a misquotation on the part of the 

 translator, came to the erroneous conclusion that the 

 Englishman was claiming this wonderful achievement 

 on behalf of a sphex a member of the hymenoptera 



