The Birds' Calendar 



collision of the races it is the man who feels 

 inclined to retire first. 



The gentler creatures are thought to pay their 

 homage to man, in their sense of reliance upon, 

 and even a sentiment of regard for, this superior 

 being ; and frequently the more useful animals 

 certainly show a devotion to their masters that 

 is a model for imitation. 



Among the feathered race in its wild state the 

 birds of prey seem invariably to cherish a spirit 

 of cowardly animosity toward man ; while in 

 game and water birds it would be very difficult 

 to prove any partiality for his society, as in gen- 

 eral they avoid his neighborhood, or at best ig- 

 nore him. But it is chiefly in what scientists re- 

 gard as the highest order of birds — the passeres or 

 perchers — which include all the song-birds — that 

 a feeling of friendly regard for man is sometimes 

 thought to be entertained, as in the robin, 

 bluebird, sparrows, etc., although such friend- 

 ly feeling has a very strong intermixture of sus- 

 picion. The argument commonly adduced to 

 prove their amicable sentiment is the fact that 

 they manifestly choose to live in his neighbor- 

 hood, becoming abundant where he opens up 

 t\\c country, and saying in effect, in the language 

 of one famous in the olden time, " Where thou 



