19 SEPTEMBER 1925, Page 18

THE SENSE OF HEARING IN BIRDS

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sta,—Referring to the letter from H. A. W., of Mussorie, re- lating how the sound of the evening gun at Agra, fourteen miles away, was evidently perceived by the birds in his aviary, I came across this week an article by John M. Bacon in the Strand Magazine of 1898, in which he gives a very similar experience, the birds (in this case pheasants) being obviously startled by the evening gun at Portsmouth, forty miles away ! this being verified on several occasions by the writer of the article.—I am, Sir, &c., MANSFIELD. [Many people will remember how in country districts pheasants were the first of the inhabitants to show that they were aware of approaching air-raids.—En. Spectator.]