STUPIDITY. 117 



stupidity in birds leading to their falling an easy prey to the 

 sportsman, the obvious or probable cause is inexperience of, or 

 unfamiliarity with, man, and its result fearlessness of, and 

 confidence in, him: curiosity or inquisitiveness regarding 

 him as a perfectly novel spectacle giving rise to an over- 

 powering sensation of wonder, surprise, astonishment or 

 bewilderment. But there are certain other causes and results 

 of stupidity in birds that have been partly referred to and 

 partly remain to be considered. Thus common crossbills are 

 ( so intent .... when picking out the seeds of the cone (of 

 the fir) that they will suffer themselves to be taken by the 

 noose being put over the head.' The common pheasant, too, 

 is said to be ' a foolish bird. When roused it will frequently 

 perch on the first tree, and is so intent upon the dogs as to 

 suffer the sportsman to approach very near' (Montagu). 



Spalding has commented on the stupidity of chickens in 

 desertion of, or wandering from, their mother, the result in 

 part, perhaps, of want or loss of filial affection. 



The siskin-parrots of New Guinea, when one is killed, 

 descend from their tree-perches to near the ground ; and in- 

 asmuch as they ' lose all caution, and seem entirely over- 

 come with grief .... any number might be killed with 

 ease.' Here we have a strong emotion overcoming natural 

 caution. Jays and pies forget the hiding-places of their 

 bean hoards, and other birds show forgetfulness of the locality 

 of caches of food or booty (White). Here, apparently, we 

 have defective memory. In certain other cases we have defec- 

 tive vision or hearing, or defective action of other senses 

 recognised by, or yet unknown to, man. Thus the night-jar 

 or fern-owl allows itself to be caught by day simply because 

 of its imperfect vision. ( Stupid as an owl ' refers, no doubt, 

 to the apparent stupidity of the poor bird by daylight, in 

 which it certainly does not show itself to advantage. The 

 woodcock of North America, too, is stupid apparently if 

 flushed by day, because of its weakness of vision in strong 

 light (Gillmore). 



A robin had got into my own house during winter, and 

 was found fluttering in the parlour. The window was thrown 

 open for its escape, but the bird seemed unable to find its 



