Intelligent Birds
Are birds more intelligent in Ireland than in England, as they are, in my small experience, tamer? I am credibly informed that when the telephone was first installed in Galway it was put out of action twice in the first week by birds flying into it ; but within the week the lesson was learnt for all time. A local Post Office engineer confirmed that there is seldom any interference by birds after the first fortnight. The one bird that could not learn was the swan. Swans flew so often into one wire, generally in the same place, that finally it had to be put underground. Casualties occur among a good many species in England, but in my experience much the commonest victims are partridges, perhaps because they are wont -to fly about the height of the wires. The Post Office has saved a good many lives by fixing corks at particularly danger9us reaches. I once saw seven birds of a covey felled by wires along the Cambridge-Huntingdon road on a very windy day. Many times I have seen pheasants hit the wires, but without any apparent ill effects.
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