OBSERVANT WOOD-PIGEONS 257 



type to our own, not at first easy to interpret. 

 Thus, it is difficult to see in many cases if a bird 

 is observing anything or not ; every one must have 

 wondered at the apparent unobservance of common 

 Pigeons when a cat is stalking them, until their 

 flight at the right moment shows that they had 

 properly estimated the danger and were awake to 

 it all the time. 



Woodpigeons, too, with an expression of stu- 

 pidity hardly equalled by any other creature, have 

 yet " sized up " the habits of man in a most scien- 

 tific way ; petted as they are in London, they will 

 fly away from a single individual walking through a 

 park in which they will settle on the hands of 

 a person where others are about, showing that they 

 have grasped the fact that men when in company 

 do not assault Pigeons, though a single individual 

 may be dangerous by owning a gun, for instance. 



The apparently unseeing stare of so many birds 

 is no doubt the reason why they may often falsely 

 appear to us to be indifferent to the display of the 

 other sex, though there is also plenty of proof that 

 the said display may really leave them unmoved 

 or even cause anger ; thus, I have often seen the 

 hen Sparrow and in one case even the hen of the 

 beautiful Orange Bishop Finch (Pyromelana fran- 

 ciscana) turn savagely on the male as he was showing 

 off before her. Similarly, one very likely under- 

 rates the scenting powers of birds because they do 

 not sniff, having rigid-edged nostrils, but they no 

 doubt often detect odours nevertheless. 

 17 



