FRIENDSHIP IN ANIMALS 79 



kill small birds. The bird was incapable of feeding 

 itself. 



Another case of a beakless bird with a friend was told 

 to me by Mr. E. Selley of Sidmouth, a gardener and 

 local naturalist. His father kept a magpie in a large 

 hutch surrounded by wires through which small birds 

 would pass in to steal the food. Among these was a 

 robin that had lost its beak in a steel trap ; and this 

 bird the magpie befriended though he was at enmity 

 with the others and hunted them out of his house. 

 The robin with no beak to peck with could only pick 

 up small crumbs, and the magpie taking a piece of 

 bread on its perch would pick it into small pieces to 

 feed the robin. " It sounds like a fairy tale," said Mr. 

 Selley ; it is however a very credible kind of fairy 

 tale to those who know a bird. 



Yet another case told to me recently by a friend who 

 was himself a witness to it. A lark was kept in a cage 

 hanging against the front wall of the house, and it was 

 noticed that some sparrows had formed the habit of 

 clinging to the wires and feeding from the seed-box. 

 To stop this plundering the box was transferred from 

 the front to the back of the cage, where it was well 

 out of their reach. Nevertheless their visits continued 

 and they appeared to be faring as well as ever. With 

 a little closer watching it was discovered that the lark 

 itself was feeding them, not by putting the seed into 

 their beaks but by conveying it from the box to the 

 other side of the cage-floor where the sparrows could 

 get at it. 



