Zip and Phoebe 



131 



While busy in the house one day. my attention was attracted by 

 a loud tapping at the window, and on lookinf^ up I saw Phoebe 

 apparently in great distress. She would Hy at the window, striking 

 the glass with her bill, circle round. Hy back again, and tap. as 

 though trying to attract my attention. Upon my appearance at the 

 door, she flew toward the nest and, pausing on the wing, as a King- 

 fisher will poise over the water when seeing a fish, uttered sharp 

 cries, fluttering her wings all the while, and telling me in bird lan- 

 guage of her trouble. There sat a cat on the chair just below the 

 nest, but it was not Zip. She had taken no other cat into her con- 

 fidence, hence her alarm. When I drove the strange cat away, 

 she quieted down and administered to the wants of her famil\- as 

 usual. 



This little incident seems to show that birds become so accus- 

 tomed to their environments that they know each member of the 

 family, even to the dog and cat, and that they possess a certain 

 degree of reasoning power. 



One day later in the season, when they were raising the second 

 family, my attention was again attracted by the same cries. A pair 

 of my tame Pigeons, looking for a place to build, had lighted on 

 the cornice over the door not far from the nest, and both Peter and 

 Ph(ebe were trying to drive them awa\-. They would dart almost 

 up to them, all the while snapping their bills vigorously, as though 

 catching a succession of insects, but before the Pigeons could strike 

 with their wings, would dart away, and like a flash be back again. 

 They did not seem to be calling on me for assistance, but were 

 themselves fighting for what they considered their rights, and evi- 

 dently did not think Pigeons "as harmless as Doves." The warfare 

 continued at intervals for several days, until the Pigeons decided it 

 was an unpleasant locality for a future' home, and retired to the 

 barn. 





