98 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



Though shy birds, if robbed of their young the}^ are very 

 bold, and I have known them go regularly into a cottage to 

 feed the captive young in a cage ; but the cage was moved 

 by degrees from the nesting-tree to the cottage table — an 

 interval of a day elapsing between each stage. On the other 

 hand, if captured when old, they will often sulk to death, 

 or " die of skulking," as the fenmen say. 



There is a superstition amongst cottagers, that if the 

 young birds die, the old birds have poisoned them ; but 

 the mystery is generally to be explained by looking into the 

 seed-dish, where pure hemp will be found — a seed fatal to 

 young birds. 



In autumn they collect in small flocks, and may be seen 

 beating the thistly marshes or flashing over the snow in mid- 

 winter, when they look at their best, and indeed are then 

 very tame, and can almost be taken by the hand. 



But they are becoming rare in the Broad district, and 

 though they may be seen on the marshlands and in the 

 elms and cars by the river-side, it is not an everyday 

 picture. 



The sentimentalist, whose heart is often better than his 

 head, often raises an outcry against caging birds ; but if the 

 young bird is taken from the nest before it recognises its 

 parents, there is no cruelty in the matter, for they never 

 know the doubtful sweets and dangers of bird liberty, and 

 will at times, if they escape, return of their own free will to 

 their " prison." Should you wish to take young birds for 

 the cage, you must watch your brood every day, and so long 

 as these formless creatures upon your appearance stretch 

 forth their ugly necks and open their mouths for food on 

 your approach, so long they are ignorant of their parents, 

 for 'tis a merely reflex action. For when they begin " to take 

 notice," the ugly maw is no longer opened at your approach. 

 You must not, however, wait for that period of development, 

 but take them just before, when they are fledged. Seize 

 them boldly, forgetful of the sentimentalist, and cage them. 



