10 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
at a time, too comfortable to get out even to 
eat. 
Birds who are not brought into the house 
often become tame when well treated. One 
family in Michigan had a pair of robins who 
nested close to the house for fourteen years. 
It was plain that the birds were the same pair, 
for they became so friendly that they let any of 
the family pick up a nestling, and showed no 
fear. But with other people they were as wild 
as any robins. 
One day a man passing by picked up one ‘of 
the young birds, who was scrambling about on 
the ground. At once the parents began loud 
cries of distress, and all the robins in the neigh- 
borhood came to help. They scolded and cried, 
and flew at the thief who wanted to carry off 
the baby. One of the family heard the row, 
and went out and claimed the robin, and the 
man gave it up. The moment the little one was 
in the hands of a person they knew, the cries 
ceased. Not only the parents but the neigh- 
bors seemed to understand that the nestling was 
safe. 
The way birds act when brought up by us and 
not by their parents shows that young birds are 
taught many things before they are grown up. 
When living in a house, they are not afraid of 
