Finding our brightest bird
Which of our various quarry birds is the most intelligent, do you think? I’m not at all sure anyone really knows the answer, or indeed how it is that you assess this. You cannot sit them down and run an IQ test, not least because there are language barriers involved. However, it is also clear that some are sharper than others and that they are not all equally birdbrained.
Woodcock are one of my favourite quarry species and the frequency with which one puts a holly bush or tree trunk between us as it flushes suggests that they are not that stupid. This is despite the fact that the French word for woodcock, , in its colloquial form means fool or simpleton. Strange to tell, this seemed
