Road Dangers
A motor-driver, very observant of those he meets on the roads, is continually pulling up to avoid young birds, not least young partridges, and on rarer occasions young mammals ; but it is his experience that at this season of the year parental birds lose the sense of self-preservation that their young have not acquired. They are absorbed in feeding their young or suffering from the lassitude of hot summer days and broody cares. Sparrows arc, I think, the most frequent victims (if we except frogs and toads in spring). On one occasion a friend of mine drove over a sparrow and pulled up to see whether the bird had escaped with its life. He had just time to see a jackdaw swoop down and carry off the body. Drivers of lorries at night could give a different list of victims. They have been known to lower a metal bar for the express purpose of killing rabbits, which often lose their nerve in a headlight.
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