NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME CAGED BIRDS. 229 



Curiosity. — I have already mentioned Canary A and the top, 

 and Eedpoll B and the bucket. The most extraordinary instance 

 of curiosity that I have experienced is not in the limits of this 

 paper, as it does not refer to a caged bird, but I will ask the 

 indulgence of my readers in including it. In August, 1901, at 

 Wood Farm, Welland, at the base of the Malverns, as I was 

 returning from a collecting excursion and carrying a butterfly- 

 net, a bird, a Pied Wagtail (Motacilla lugubris) flew down to my 

 feet, uttering its call. I look around to see if a Hawk was 

 about, or if any other cause for this strange conduct was visible. 

 I then turned my attention to the bird to see if it was wounded 

 or ill, but it was unhurt, quite young, in beautiful plumage, and 

 apparently in excellent health ; it flirted its tail, and looked up 

 into my face with curiosity and without the least fear. To my 

 extreme astonishment it even allowed me to take it in my hand. 

 I called to my wife (who is even more interested in birds than 

 myself) to come out of the farmhouse and see this strange 

 behaviour. The bird was as tame with her as with me, and she 

 also took it in her hand. We petted and played with it for a 

 considerable time, it not showing the least desire to leave us, 

 but, on the contrary, manifesting pleasure in being with us. 

 Finally, as we had to go indoors to lunch, I placed it on the 

 roof of the cowshed. About an hour later we were passing a 

 barn in a field about three hundred yards from the farm, I 

 still carrying my net, when we heard a call, and the same bird 

 again flew down, and remained a long time with us. I caught a 

 fly in the barn (Musca corvina, L., to the best of my recollection), 

 and this the bird took from my fingers, not with avidity, but 

 with an uncertainty, a kind of air of not refusing from politeness. 

 The only reasonable explanation that I can give is that the 

 unusual sight of a net, and my waving it to capture an insect, so 

 excited the curiosity of an abnormally clever young bird, that it 

 quite overcame its habitual fear of man. We looked for our 

 little friend again on many days, but were never quite certain 

 that we recognized him, and he never repeated his strange 

 behaviour. Since then I have always taken particular notice of 

 this species, but have found them rather shy, never permitting 

 me to approach at all close. 



