198 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS 



speed, and with an audacious freedom very differ- 

 ent from its behaviour on the clear day. 



When the sun shown it would circle over the 

 neighbourhood trying one angle of approach after 

 another. Its shadow passing over the ground of 

 the farmyard invariably sent the hens and chickens 

 to cover. Finally, with a manoeuvring which could 

 have had but one end in view — ^that of getting 

 its tell-tale shadow behind — the bird descended like 

 a flash of lightning and was off in an instant with a 

 struggling chicken in its claws. 



On three occasions the creature went through 

 these preliminary movements; and if it were not 

 endowed with the power of reasoning out its rela- 

 tion to the sun, or to understand why its shadow 

 was ahead of it or to the rear, it most certainly was 

 possessed of patience and strategic sense to a re- 

 markable degree in altering its angle of approach 

 until success crowned its efforts. 



The oyster-catchers are an interesting group of 

 bird fishers. While they do not display any par- 

 ticular strategy in their fishing, they do work as a 

 team in that they all begin and stop at the same 

 time. These birds, so named because of their meth- 

 ods of feeding on clams and oysters, are famed for 

 their ability to pry open, with their knife-like bills, 

 the tightly sealed shells of their prey. There are 



