226 JUNGLE FOLK 



has taught me that, more often than not, the most 

 cunningly devised ornithological experiments yield no 

 definite results. It is quite possible that the club of 

 babblers thus captured and decorated with gay colours 

 might flee from the neighbourhood in wrath and terror. 

 The birds would not understand the why and the 

 wherefore of the proceeding, and might, perhaps, think 

 that you were going to make a practice of catching 

 them every night and tjdng things round their limbs. 

 A bird whose leg has been pulled once is apt to be 

 twice shy. 



