While we are on the subject, the first bird known to develop a
milk-theft habit was the Blue Tit in Britain, where milk of diferent
grades has (or had) colour-coded foil tops. Some individual bird, or
group of birds, presumably made the discovery, and the technique spread
right across Britain with remarkable speed. The birds soon learnt that
red and gold tops indicated the creamier milk.
A friend told me that she was staying for Christmas in a rather isolated
place in the New Forest - without a car. For Christmas they had decided
to be festive and extravagant and order one bottle of gold-top milk.
The milkman duly delivered this, fighting his way through deep snow
drifts. And when the three elderly ladies went to get the milk from
the doorstep, to their horror, there was a drowned Blue Tit in the top
of the bottle.
First reaction - the poor little thing! Fish it out and discuss
resuscitation.
Second reaction - horror - we'll have to throw the milk out!
Third reaction - hang on, there is no other milk in the house, and no
way to reach the shop three miles away in deep snow. Anyway, the shop
is closed.
Lengthy discussion. In the end they drank it - with no ill effects.
Incidentally, all the assorted Tits (Chickadees in America) seem to be
intelligent problem-solvers. Read Len Howard's book "Birds as
Individuals" (1952) - long out of print but available in second-hand
bookshops. LH's account of the ability of Great Tits to get at and
plunder a bag of peanuts she had secreted in a closed desk-drawer is
astonishing.
Anthea Fleming
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