via CONTENTS 



CHAPTER V 



PAGE 



Birds in Authority ....... 43 



A conversation with a sportsman — Wild geese — A masterful 

 gander — Stories of pet trumpeters — Singular behaviour 

 of a male sand-martin — Bird sentinels — Dancing per- 

 formances of lapwings — Ceremonial drinking and 

 bathing — Bird sports. 



CHAPTER VI 



A Wood by the Sea ....... 57 



The pine wood at Wells — An extraordinary echo — Crows 

 disturbed by a barn owl — Pheasant and blackbird 

 feeding together — Friendships between birds of different 

 species — Account of a pet pheasant. 



CHAPTER VII 

 Friendship in Animals ...... 65 



The title justified — Position of friendship in the scale of 

 animal qualities — Friendships between horses — A pet 

 wolf — Peter the fox — Friendships among birds — A 

 jackdaw and a small boy — Stories of teal — Birds 

 caring for injured companions — The helping instinct — 

 Partridge and pony — Strange case of a swan and a 

 trout. 



CHAPTER VIII 



The Sacred Bird (Phasianus colchicus) ... 84 



The pheasant in Romano-British times — The modern 

 craze for it — Destruction of bird life by keepers — A 

 heronry depopulated — An indiscriminate massacre — 

 " Keeping an eye " on the hawks — Beauty of the 

 pheasant in autumn woods — Absence of great soaring 

 birds from English skies. 



CHAPTER IX 



A Tired Traveller (Turdus iliacus) .... 94 

 A November day on the east coast — A solitary redwing — 

 charm of the redwing — Its evening concerts — The 

 redwing soliloquises — Its beauty — A meditation on 

 death. 



