PEEPING TOM
A reader sends a photograph of a blue:4U which, for nearly three weeks, played Peeping Tom through the windows of his house, and remarks, 'For the first week it was outside the dining-room window, as seen in the photograph, and for the rest of the time outside my bedroom window, exactly the same type of window (leaded light) on the floor above. It started about 6 a.m. and kept on and off all day, flying away for a few minutes and then returning. It fluttered up and down between the two strips of lead and must have used a great deal of energy. There is nothing it could have eaten on the window, but it often pecked. Can you give any reason for the unusual behaviour? My family suggest it was looking for a mate and saw its own reflection in the windows.' This sort of thing is not uncommon and I think it is generally explained by the theory that the bird is
fascinated by its image reflected either in the glass of the window or mirrors in the room beyond. Occasion- ally the attraction is some bright object and a friend told me some time ago of a small bird that regularly came to her window and pecked. When she left the window open it entered and began to inspect trinkets on her dressing table. These were too heavy for the bin to carry away and the visits ceased after it had made the investigation.
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