FRIENDSHIP IN ANIMALS 77 



noticed a little distance behind the others a bird 

 sitting motionless on the ground and two others 

 keeping close to it, one on each side. These two had 

 finished examining the ground and prodding at the 

 roots of the grass at the spot, and were now anxious 

 to go forward and rejoin the company, but were 

 held back by the other one. On my going to them they 

 all flew up and on, and I then saw that the one that 

 had hung back had a broken leg. Perhaps it had not 

 long been broken and he had not yet accommodated 

 himself to the changed conditions in which he had 

 to get about on the ground and find his food. I 

 followed and found that, again and again, after the 

 entire scarlet-breasted army had moved on, the 

 lame bird remained behind, his two impatient but 

 faithful companions still keeping with him. They 

 would not fly until he flew, and when on the wing 

 still kept their places at his side, and on overtaking 

 the flock all three would drop down together. 



The next case is from Penzance and was told to 

 me when I was staying there. A lady of that town, a 

 member of one of its oldest and most distinguished 

 families, is a great bird-lover and feeds the birds 

 during the winter on her lawn. She noticed that a 

 blackbird and thrush always came together to the 

 food, and then that the blackbird fed the other, 

 picking up the morsels and placing them in its open 

 mouth. In looking more closely it was discovered 

 that the thrush had lost its beak: this had been cut 

 off close to the head, probably by a steel or a sudden- 

 death spring trap, such as the children in Cornwall 



