486 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tlie beginning, while the ahricial young of other birds 

 stretch their neci<s and o])en their mouths at the apjjroach 

 of an enemy as eagerly as at the approach of their ])ar- 

 ents. It is not until their wing feathers grow out or until 

 they are able to respond to the calls of the old birds, th;it 



I 



though long continued kindness will help to dis]jel it. 



The tenacity of the instinct varies with dilTerent spe- 

 cies and with individuals ot the same species. During 

 the past w inter, for example, we trapped for experimental 

 pnr| uses, a number of wild ducks of .several .species, can- 

 \asbacks, scaup ducks, black ducks, 

 and mallards. Within a few days 

 some of the canvasbacks became 

 aecnstomed to our presence and 

 dove and fed in the artificial punii 

 with btit little show of fear. The 

 scaup ducks were slower to adaj)! 

 themselves, and the mallards and 

 black ducks remain sullen to this 



1 



LLOfj 



KF.TTV FKEDINC THK UKK.SK 



they crouch and hide or llutter from 



the nest upon one's intrusion. The 



fear is apparently instilled into them 



or accjuired by absorjilion from 



their parents, for if they are taken 



from the nest before it appears ami 



raised by hand, it never develops. 



Thus, the wary crcjw, when taken 



from the nest before it acquires the 



fear instinct, becomes so tame as to 



be almost obnoxious. ( )ii the other liand. if voting bird 



are taken after it appears, they may never lose it, nl 



WUICX MUNGKR IIOMINATES FEAR 



Part of a Hi)ck of wild geese owned by J. D. Showell, at Ocean City, Maryland. They arc 

 valuable as decoys during the hunting season, and are very tame, coming to his call and even 

 l)erniitting discriminate petting. 



(lav. b'.ven among the canvasbacks, however, there is a 

 (lifferi'iu-e :iiid some are much tamer than others. An- 



(AiN vui: .SIOE I m-..\i; 



Young Killdeers, just hatched, crouching in the nest. In precocial birds 

 such as tile plovers, sandpipers, ducks, and grouse, fear develops imme- 

 diately upon hatching and they hide upon the approach of an enemy. 



THK SHEl.TKkliNt; HAND OF A.N OKNITHOLOGIST 



The little Blackburnian warbler does not appreciate the protection and 

 submits to it only because of the precious eggs beneath her and her abnor- 

 mally developed instinct to protect them. 



