78 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



tance behind the others a bird sitting motionless on 

 the ground and two others keeping close to it, one on 

 each side. These two had finished examining the 

 ground and prodding at the roots of the grass at the 

 spot, and were now anxious to go forward and rejoin 

 the company, but were held back by the other one. 

 On my going to them they all flew up and on, and I 

 then saw that the one that had hung back had a broken 

 leg. Perhaps it had not long been broken and he had 

 not yet accommodated himself to the changed condi- 

 tions in which he had to get about on the ground and 

 find his food. I followed and found that, again and 

 again, after the entire scarlet-breasted army had moved 

 on, the lame bird remained behind, his two impatient 

 but faithful companions still keeping with him. They 

 would not fly until he flew, and when on the wing still 

 kept their places at his side and on overtaking the flock 

 all three would drop down together. 



The next case is from Penzance and was told to me 

 when I was staying there. A lady of that town, a 

 member of one of its oldest and most distinguished 

 families, is a great bird-lover and feeds the birds during 

 the winter on her lawn. She noticed that a blackbird 

 and thrush always came together to the food, and then 

 that the blackbird fed the other, picking up the morsels 

 and placing them in its open mouth. In looking more 

 closely it was discovered that the thrush had lost its 

 beak : this had been cut off close to the head, pro- 

 bably by a steel or a sudden-death spring trap, such as 

 the children in Cornwall commonly use to catch or 



