78 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



commonly use to catch or kill small birds. The bird 

 was incapable of feeding itself. 



Another case of a beakless bird with a friend was 

 told to me by Mr. E. Selley of Sidmouth, a gardener 

 and local naturalist. His father kept a magpie in a 

 large hutch surrounded by wires through which small 

 birds would pass in to steal the food. Among these 

 was a robin that had lost its beak in a steel trap; 

 and this bird the magpie befriended, though he was 

 at enmity with the others and hunted them out of 

 his house. The robin with no beak to peck with could 

 only pick up small crumbs, and the magpie taking a 

 piece of bread on its perch would pick it into small 

 pieces to feed the robin. " It sounds like a fairy tale," 

 said Mr. Selley; it is, however, a very credible kind 

 of fairy tale to those who know a bird. 



Yet another case told to me recently by a friend 

 who was himself a witness to it. A lark was kept in 

 a cage hanging against the front wall of the house, 

 and it was noticed that some sparrows had formed 

 the habit of clinging to the wires and feeding from 

 the seed-box. To stop this plundering the box was 

 transferred from the front to the back of the cage, 

 where it was well out of their reach. Nevertheless 

 their visits continued and they appeared to be faring 

 as well as ever. With a little closer watching it was 

 discovered that the lark itself was feeding them, not 

 by putting the seed into their beaks but by conveying 

 it from the box to the other side of the cage-floor 

 where the sparrows could get at it. 



I take it that in these instances the act does not 



