American Auk a wntei reports that 

 ., joittlj American Robin (Trtfrfw 

 was oltseived while 

 anting if pick up a lealv twig on 

 several occasions and sweep the 

 ground with It; apparently in an 

 attempt to loeau- niuie ,aits in the 

 leafy litter. Thai use ol a -hionni". 

 however, appeals to have heeti spas- 

 modic, or foiltiitous, and not an 

 expression ot hahit. 



So iimlatv l nol iisiiiH 



Although some birds las- in Ihe 

 east of the (houghs! may he hoth 

 priniaty and secondary tool-users, 

 there appears to he a certain diffei- 

 ence in menial activity involved 

 between Ihe two piacliccs. Secondary 

 tool-users are those birds which, 

 instead ol holding Ml object in the 

 beak or claws and using il as a mis- 

 sile or other aid. strike a shell 

 & gains' a rock-face or (hop it on 10 

 ft hard surface from alotl. In \us 

 ir.ilia and elsewhere gulls freely drop 

 shells on to rocky plui forms, and all 

 of our junglc-haunling pittas ( ".mvil 

 birds") and some thrushes hold 

 shells in their beaks and thrash them 

 against hard surfaces. Dwellers in 

 .south-easlern Queensland WBjW ODBC 

 puzzled hv often hearing a tinkling 

 sound emanating from a hell of rain- 

 forest: and they remained pu/zled 

 imtil learning that the noise wits 

 caused by a Bulf-brca.slcd Pitta ham 

 mering land-shells on the base of a 

 heer- bottle butted in the soil. 



Kecords of shell-dropping in Hi i 

 lain include one in which Colin 

 \1k Donald ( Highland Jouincv . Edin- 

 burgh, ml) rel.iics the exploits of 

 n Crow. He says ihal the bird twice 

 dropped a cockle on to sand without 

 success, and then— whether by chance 

 or design— it changed tu gt&jtj and 

 ruSWtts; add tW» 11 dropped 



six more cockles > but not one of them 

 on to sand. 



186 



Cm! «tf MaytMng* 



Possibly there is allinity between 

 tool using and ihe hahu .it sum, 

 birds of using sucks or olhet objects 

 as playthings I here are m Au^traJn, 

 mimerotis records of eagles and 

 smaller hawks taking alofi a stick, 

 pf perhaps a dried rabbit-skin, ana 

 dtopping it ttti another bin! n. ..net 

 in. alternatively, swooping and nrA- 

 \02 thf catch itself, ('oiintiy children 

 term this piuctice "Ihe slick ipime" 

 Similar aclions have. Of course, 

 been observed in nlhei coublno. 

 I hat dedicated English land \ bA] 

 I i an i bird observer Miss Joyce Gren- | 

 fell advises Ihal she tecently .saw an 

 cslnbitiou of the kind given hv CWfl 

 hawks in Surrey Ihe sight was. sin 

 declares. 'absolutely sensational" 



Ihe lull and stately cranes which 

 we know DS Utolgus also play i, 

 slick game", not in the air bill un 

 Ihe earth It is more or less usual 

 fur one hird aftet anoihei. during a I 

 company dance, to pick up a dry j 

 braiirhki and toss il aloft. 



r«0 other reports of birds using 

 playthings provide an clement of 

 novelty. In one statement Ctalahs arc 

 said (w have frequently dropped 

 stones on to the it on rool of a 

 eonntiv home It) New South Wales, 

 appaiently tor ihe sole purpose of 

 enjoying the noise created. In the 

 second report Magpies also arc said 

 lo have dropped stones on a rtliYil 

 rooliop. but in this case the action 

 — performed by about tbluy hirdv- 

 was taken only when, in Ihe cath 

 morninji, delay had occurred in the 

 regular practice of putting oul ffcod 

 tor Ihe hird-visitors If, as the house- 

 holders believed, the roof tattling 

 was done purposely 10 claim ntlert 

 lion, the action would appear to lift 

 flu pehblL- wielding Magpies bom 

 players to moluscrs-'bell-rinpn? 

 vaneiy' 



V,cf Nat Vol. 88 



