INTELLIGENCE 111 



graph wires and lighthouses; thousands of birds are annually hurled 

 against these objects to their destruction." 



A probable sense of direction has already been considered in the 

 chapter on 'Migration/ 



Intelligence. It is the human side of bird-life which in recent years 

 has most attracted bird students and has been most emphasized by 

 popular writers. With the bird's already pronounced human-like 

 traits to build on, it has required only imagination, unrestrained by 

 scientific method or analysis, to make of the bird a creature of marvel- 

 ous mental endowment, whose reasoning powers, within the limits of 

 its normal activities, are equal if not superior to those of man. 



Such treatment finds favor with those whose love of birds exceeds 

 their knowledge of ornithology, but it is strongly resented by others 

 who, yielding nothing in their appreciation of the birds' claims to our 

 attention, would still have them regarded as birds rather than as feath- 

 ered human beings. But in attempting to administer a corrective, the 

 critics of the ultra-human point of view have given an overdose. They 

 not only deny the bird ability to reason, but assert that all its mental 

 activities are wholly instinctive; in short, that the bird is a feathered 

 automaton. 



It is not possible here to discuss this question in the light of all the 

 available evidence, but only to record my own views as they are based 

 mainly on personal observations. These lead me to believe that neither 

 point of view is wholly right nor wholly wrong; in other words, that 

 there is a measure of truth in both contentions. In each case, however, 

 it would appear that a fundamental error is made in speaking of the 

 "mind of birds" collectively, or as a unit. We would not attempt thus 

 to consider the mind of mammals, and while there is not, it is true, so 

 wide a range of mental development in birds as there is in mammals, 

 the difference between the least intelligent and the most intelligent 

 is far too great for us to discuss the mind of the Class Aves without 

 distinction as to species and even individuals. 



For example, a prolonged, intimate study of Pelicans seems to em- 

 phasize the low order of their intelligence. Perfectly as they are adapted 

 to their own environment, they exhibit, when confronted by new con- 

 ditions, what, judged by human standards, can only be called stupidity. 



On the other hand, the Blue Jays, Crows, Jackdaws, and others of 

 their near kin, often exhibit so high a degree of intelligence that the 

 bird-lover, unmindful of exact definitions, is tempted to assert that 

 they show ability to reason. 



The Herons of Cuthbert Rookery were alarmed into hurried flight 

 by the firing of a gun a mile and a half away, but the Crows which were 

 with them paid no attention to the report. The Herons' experience 

 with firearms has developed an unreasoning fear, while Crows show 

 the nicest judgment in estimating the range of a gun. 



The Herons of this rookery permitted the Crows to rob them of their 

 eggs by the hundred without the slightest indication of protest or 



