Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-10

I ding Of the head which proclaim the
ducks attachment to her favored drake
! and the scornful emphasis with which
she points her bill at the rejected suitor
whom he Is driving away. Indeed, the
little Chinese Mandarin duck Is con-
stantly to be seen actually urging her
vain and gorgeous mate into hostllties
In this way.
Wise Geese
Geese, In spite of their foolish air
and gestures, are really most intelligent
creatures and the proverbial wild
goose chase Is made difficult by the
scout and sentry system maintained
by the birds, which argues some means
Of communicating ideas. Mr.. J. G..
Mil1ais, In his "Wildfowler in Scot
land" describes how he lay in am
bush in pit on an island on Loch
Leven and saw these anserine tactics
fully displayed.
First a single goose flew over, recon-
noitered the position and retired to
report. There was much discussion and
three small parties were deputed ON
inspection duty They returned and in
half an hour the whole flock landed
with much clamor and without caution.
Sentries were set and before long
the hidden sportsman saw a goose
which had been grazing go up to one
and touch him on the back, whereupon
the sentry applied himself to the grass
and the other bird began to keep
watch.
"It was" he said. their mode of
changing sentry" and before he dis
turbed the peace of the flock by firing
he saw it done on two more occasions.
Here there was well understood
sign. which, as Mr.. Millais says. evi-
IDENTIFY meant "I'll do my turn now" (:
and geese can communicate ideas even
more simply. for Sir Ralph Payne
Gallwey says he once saw one which
had stra:--d from the flock discover
him where he lay behind bank He
was only a dozen yards off, but the
goose retained its presence of mind.
1t walked slowly off, and not until it
when they, of course, followed.
l strongly suspect that goose wan
dered away on purpose to reconnoiter; I;
it certainly did the only thing 1t could
have done to save it's life when dis
covered. for had it risen it would
probably have been shot, secrecy on
the part of the sportsman being then
futile.
No wonder geese saved the capitol
in Roman history; and they have done
sentry duty for man under far differ
ent conditions, for the Hawaiian
islanders used to keep the native wild
goose peculiar to the islands in order
that it might warn them against sur
prise by enemies in the constant feuds
of the old pagan days.
M. Rogerson of Anglers, a very close
observer Of water fowl, has recounted
a remarkable instance of communica =
tion of ideas among ducks, where
neither love nor war was in question.
One of his ducks was for some reason
shut up in cellar where all sorts of
lumber was kept. A hard-headed, prac-
tical bird, she did not deplore her i'm
priSonment, but set to work to eX-
plore her surroundings and soon found
tub of grain, on which she dined
heartily.
Soon after she found the door open
and went out down a long passage and
through the kitchen, a region, of
course, quite unfamiliar to live poul-
try. Next day she was discovered in
the cellarlwith her friends, the other
ducks. doing the honors of the grain
tub Is coolly as possible.
Now she must either have told them
to follow her, and enjoyed a status
among them which insured her being
believed, or else they must have no.
ticed her full crop when she got out
of prison, drawn their own conclusions
from the sight and followed her on her
return to the cellar next day