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• X M E • 



Ornithologist ^ Botanist. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY. 



STTBSCRIPTION PBICE 500. 



VOL. II. 



DES MOINES, IOWA, JANUARY, 1892. 



NO. I. 



DO BIRDS REASON? 



'-■■-' JAMES HILL, EDINBUEGH, ILL. 



It has long beeu a subject of contro- 

 versy, as to whether animals possessed 

 the faculty of reason or no, from several 

 observations I am inclined to thiuk they 

 do. I will illustrate a few events, that 

 have come under my uotice in the last 

 few years, to the reader who may ponder 

 on them at pleasure. 



I am going to make a statement, that 

 may seem absurd to many of my readers 

 nevertheless it is gospel truth. In 1889, 

 1 am uncertain now as to the month. I 

 took from the nest a young House Wren 

 [Trof/lodyies aedoii), which was weak 

 and smaller than its nest mates, on ex- 

 amination I found that its leg was broken 

 pt in ^me way diseased, and around it 

 had been placed a small splinter, in the 

 shape of splint, and around this was 

 tightly wound horse-harr. In a few 

 days the other members of the nest va- 

 cated their home, but young aedon re- 

 mained about a week when it also tlew 

 from the nest in an enfeebled condition, 

 but I believe it lived. Did not this 

 show reason on the part of the parents. 



Notice the place chosen by the birds 

 of the order Crallinae,th.ej choose j^laces 

 where the nest and themselves so nearly 

 mimic the surrounding herbage as to be 

 almost indiscernable. 



Does not the Quail, Grouse, Dove 

 and Meadow Lark show wonderful 

 shrewdness in their affected wounded- 



iiess, when driven from their nest or 

 nestlings by a dog, fox or other intrud- 

 er ? But you will say this is instinct, 

 then why does'nt the powerful Eagle, 

 Condor or some of those birds flutter 

 along helplessly in that manner ? simply 

 because they realize their power, they 

 know they are able to protect their nest 

 from all but their human enemies. 



The birds if persecuted in a certain 

 locality are soon almost absent from the 

 place while on the other hand if jsroteet- 

 ed and unmolested they will come in 

 multitudes to, build in the trees about 

 the lawn and chirup about the dooryard. 



The Bobwhite Colinus viginianus, so 

 common in the New England and the 

 Middle States, if protected will come up 

 to the doorstep in search of food and 

 will build its nest near habitations seem- 

 ingly for protection, but if persecuted 

 by hunters and farmers it soon deserts 

 the places of its ungrateful enemies and 

 its "Bobwhite," "Bobwhite"is no longer 

 heard from the barnyard fence. 



Is it not reason that enables the birds 

 of many species to determine an egg of 

 the Cowbird from their own eggs? Of 

 course many birds are unable to detect 

 eggs of the Parasite in the nest, but I 

 have noticed blue birds when returning 

 to the nest, after an absence and finding 

 a Cowbirds egg in the nest, fiy around 

 in a distressed manner, and afterward 

 remove thg^egg, throwing it out over 

 the side of 'the nest. 





