246 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



Geese than to Dogs is also borne out by a corre- 

 spondent of Hewitt's quoted in the same work, 

 who characterized Spanish (Chinese) Geese and 

 Guinea-Fowls, kept in a lonely place, as the best 

 watch- dogs in the neighbourhood, the actual dogs 

 themselves generally only giving the second warning, 

 so that it was thought they themselves relied on 

 the birds. The Peacock is also not inferior to the 

 Guinea-Fowl in wariness at night, and probably 

 also relies on hearing ; a few Pea-fowl in game- 

 coverts might prove an excellent and inexpensive 

 guard against poachers. 



It has recently been noted in the press, too, 

 that Parrots kept in fortresses and on the Eiffel 

 Tower during the war gave warning of approaching 

 aeroplanes when they could not possibly have 

 seen them, and two writers, one who kept a Sulphur- 

 crested Cockatoo and the other a Ring-necked 

 Parrakeet, have recorded, the former in " Notes on 

 Cage-birds " and the latter in the Avicultural 

 Magazine, that the birds became aware of their 

 masters' arrival at home at a distance at which any 

 hearing seemed impossible. Even the Kiwi will 

 jump if one claps one's hands suddenly close to it 

 at night, though the waving of a white handkerchief 

 fails to impress its dull sight. 



The sense of hearing is much more important 

 in determining the relations of birds to each 

 other than is generally supposed, and appears to 

 be more important than sight. Thus, the freely 

 interbreeding species which have been above 



