AND OTHER BIRDS 57 



for tlio first time, tlio ])Ossil)ility of him, too, 

 possessing a home in that dark mass of creeper, 

 entered my mind. There was no timber, how- 

 ever, for tlie construction of a ladder even of 

 the rudest sort, and investigation was impossible 

 without the wrecking of the Robin's nest. If, 

 indeed, the Owl had also built in this dark mass 

 of dead stuff, a few feet only could have 

 separated the two establishments. It goes with- 

 out saying that the Owl knew of the Robin's 

 nest and chicks, — that admits of no doubt what- 

 ever — but why he should have abstained from 

 hunting the parent birds so that even if not 

 captured they would have been forced to desert 

 the neighbourhood and allow their brood to 

 perish, and why he should not have taken the 

 helpless chicks is less easy to decide. 



In another volume I have given reasons 

 for believing that propinquit}^ establishes 

 some sort of bond even between unfriends, 

 and between the oppressor and the mem- 

 bers of the tribe upon whom he preys, 

 and have given examples in the conduct 

 of the Falcon who, I believe, hunts at a distance 

 from his eyrie, and in that of the collie who 

 prefers to worry sheep from flocks strange to 

 him. 



