264 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



in such cases, According to my experience, actu- 

 ated more by curiosity than by malice, as I never 

 saw any of the Pekins I turned out in London 

 parks hurt by them, even if they happened to be 

 in poor condition. 



I even saw one of these birds rob a London 

 Sparrow very cleverly; the Sparrow had carried a 

 bit of bread under the bush in which Liothrix was 

 perched, when the Chinese bird jabbered at him, 

 giving his alarm-note, and the Sparrow fled in 

 terror, leaving the bread to be appropriated by 

 his rival. Another bird of this kind, placed in an 

 aviary in Calcutta, detected and seized a small 

 cockroach which lived in a crevice and had baffled 

 the other inmates before he had been in the place 

 five minutes ; and on a perch having fallen down 

 with a great clatter on being shifted, was down 

 on the next one investigating the cause of the 

 disturbance before the flutter caused thereby 

 among the other inmates of the aviary had sub- 

 sided. 



Should any one be anxious to investigate system- 

 atically the workings of a bird's mind, I should 

 strongly recommend this knowing little species, 

 which being largely insectivorous has more chance 

 of showing versatile intelligence than a seed-eater, 

 though some of these are very intelligent, not 

 only among Parrots, but among Passerines, such as 

 the Redpoll, Sparrow, and Baya Weaver. 



There are undoubtedly many birds and groups 

 of birds whose intelligence is extremely low com- 



