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THE OOLOGIST, Utica, N. Y. 



JULY, 1876. 



ATTRIBUTES TO SHYNESS. 



OHYNESS in birds does not arise from 

 *^ tlie fact of its being simply a charac-' 

 teristic of the bird ; it is the outgrowth of 

 many peculiarities, more or less noticeable 

 where they are predominant. The main 

 points affecting this are easily traceable and 

 when studied to some extent resolve them- 

 selves into reasonable attributes. In con- 



sidering a bird's habits, ornithologists sel- 

 dom pass over that part of the schedule re- 

 lating to shyness, bnt no regard is shown 

 for the reason, all undoubtedly supposing 

 it arises from either of only two causes, viz : 

 the natural faculties of the bird, such as 

 sight, smell and hearing, which of course 

 lend a more active sense of danger than 

 birds of less acute faculties would experi- 

 ence, and this is more properly wariness, 

 for it is not similar to the innocent disre- 

 gard of the smaller birds, whose instinctive 

 practice of keeping out of the reach of man 

 is not attendant with habitual expectation 

 of danojer. Secondly the prominence of the 

 larger birds renders them the universal ob- 

 ject of pursuit, and being driven about and 

 continually harassed by inexperienced gun- 

 ners, they naturally assiniie an attitude of 

 shyness, and as these are the birds usually 

 possessing the strongest senses, they ha- 

 bitually employ them to guard against dan- 

 ger. Of course, the underlying degree of 

 shyness is based upon the peculiarities of 

 different birds, and is "hereditary," the 

 members of each family as a general thing 

 forming a body of constituents in which a 

 certain grade of shyness is perceptibly the 

 same throughout. This we are supposed 

 to consider already allowed. 



Di-. Coues remarks : " The qualities that 

 birds possess for self-preservation may be 

 called tvariness in large birds, shyness in 

 small ones. The former make off know- 

 ingly from a suspicious object ; the latter 

 fly from anything that is strange to them, 

 be it dangerous or not." This is striking- 

 ly true, though in many cases the order 

 seems to be reversed, especially in wild lo- 

 calities. Still, beyond the two attributes 

 already figured, there are others, among 

 which are locality, situation, the scarcity 

 or abundance of the bird, resoiirces for 

 food, &c. Then taking a bird accustomed 

 to wild, remote places, it will be found to 

 be extremely shy upon accidentally visiting 

 populous districts. In many portions of 

 the country where Eagles are common, they 

 regard man with but little timidity and do 

 not exhibit any of the shyness of a single 



