AN UNJUST ASPERSION 265 



pared with those I have dealt with ; such birds as 

 Bustards, Tinamous, Sand-Grouse, and Pigeons, for 

 instance, though often wary, are not what one would 

 call bright and clever. It will not do, however, 

 to try to estimate a bird's intelligence from its 

 morphological status ; for instance, Grebes are 

 supposed to be a " low " type, but my experience 

 of them is that they are very intelligent, far more 

 so than any other waterfowl, at any rate in the 

 case of the Indian Dabchick, a bird which minutely 

 examines everything, and as I proved, knows one 

 person from another, even though not fed by any 

 one. 



Parker, from anatomical considerations appar- 

 ently, saw fit to stigmatize the Rails as a " feeble- 

 minded, cowardly group," which they most em- 

 phatically are not, when one comes to know them 

 intimately. The common Moorhen (Gallinula 

 chloro'pus) is, I should say, an infinitely more coura- 

 geous, intelligent, and generally strong-minded 

 bird than the wild Duck, though that is a good 

 steady-nerved sensible bird as Ducks go. Their be- 

 haviour in London well illustrates this, for whereas 

 both birds are kindly treated there, and have been 

 for many years, the Duck can never overcome the 

 timid instinct of hiding its nest, and rarely breeds on 

 small ponds ; the Moorhen will often nest in the 

 full view of the public, and at the time of writing a 

 pair had bred for years on a tiny island in a little 

 stone-faced pond in the middle of Goldhawk 

 Road in London, within a few yards of an electric 



