[Illustration]
The owl has always been considered the symbol of wisdom. The old saying
has it that "fine feathers don't make fine birds," but I'm afraid that
the owl has taken in people with its appearance. The owl's reputation
for wisdom seems to be based on a staid, impressive appearance combined
with an inarticulate disposition. Though owls do at times make a great
deal of noise, hooting, shrieking, and whistling, much of the time the
owl sits quietly looking wise and saying nothing. But owls don't seem
to have much behind the front they put up. People who have studied
them find the young are very slow to learn to feed themselves, and one
saw-whet owl that was kept captive refused to eat liver put into its
cage, apparently not recognizing the meat as food. But when the liver
was stuffed into an empty mouse skin the owl at once ate it. One might
conclude that the owl was the original "stuffed shirt."
The crows and their relative, the jays, are the birds that are really
intelligent. They are active and usually have little trouble getting
enough to eat. They have an abounding curiosity that leads them to
spend their time investigating things and getting new experiences. And
they seem to profit by these experiences, too.
The following is how three ravens co-operated in getting a bone from a
dog, as written by B. J. Bretherton:
"He was espied by a raven who flew down and tried to scare the dog by
loud cawing, in which he was shortly afterwards assisted by another,
both birds sidling up to the dogs head until they were barely out of
his reach. Just at this time a third raven appeared on the scene and
surveyed the situation from an adjacent fence, but soon flew down
behind the dog and advanced until within reach of his tail, which he
seized so roughly that the dog turned for an instant to snap at him,
and at the same moment the bone was snatched away by one of the ravens
at his head."
CROWS LEARN FROM OTHERS Crows have been recorded as profiting by
the experience of one of their numbers. In Washington, when almonds
were ripening in the almond orchards and crows were swarming there
threatening to destroy the nut crop, an estimated 30,000 crows were
involved and the destruction of an $800 crop was complete in two days.
Various methods of control were tried unsuccessfully. Finally some
almonds were slit open, poisoned, and scattered about in the orchards.
Very few crows were actually poisoned, not exceeding 1 per cent of the
flock. The first reaction of the crows when one of their number was
poisoned was one of extreme panic. There was tumultuous clamoring and
confusion. Then the flock abandoned the attempts to feed on almonds and
left the area completely. Here we have a case of superior intelligence,
birds profiting by the sight of a few of their numbers being poisoned
fleeing the area and so escaping being poisoned themselves.