DECOY ANIMALS 167 



than the original observation which suggested the use 

 of the pseudo-fox as decoy. The knowledge that 

 birds instinctively join other birds of the same kind 

 led to the use of the whole race of " call birds " em- 

 ployed by bird-catchers and fowlers. Their aid is 

 invoked successfully even by amateurs in the every- 

 day business of pigeon- keeping. If a stray pigeon 

 visits a house it generally perches on some part of 

 the roof, whence it takes a survey of the garden, 

 dogs, cats, and other pigeons there. If a little corn 

 is scattered on a window-sill where the latter are used 

 to be fed, and one of the home birds is thrown up on 

 to the roof, it is certain to fly down again to the food, 

 and with it comes the visitor, who cannot endure to 

 be left alone. 



If a hawk or falcon is lost, or refuses to come 

 down from a tree, the loosing of another hawk will 

 often bring it again to the lure. Hawks and crows, 

 as well as many small birds, seem to entertain a 

 curious spite against any of their tribe which seem to 

 be in difficulties. If one is taken and pegged down on 

 its back with its feet upwards, another bird of the 

 same species is almost certain to descend upon it and 

 attack it. This is possibly because it imagines that 

 the other bird is offering battle, for if a crow, hawk, 

 or owl is fighting on the ground it generally throws 

 itself on its back, so as to present its most easily 

 defended side to the foe. Readers of Mr. Rudyard 

 Kipling's story of the Hindoo colony of the living 

 dead, will recall the means taken by the prisoners 

 to catch crows for food, and the same method is 



