igS BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



them, and wherever man suspends his hostility 

 towards them they quickly outgrow the suspicion 

 which experience has taught them, or which is 

 traditional among them; for the young and inex- 

 perienced imitate the action of the adults they 

 associate with, and learn the suspicious habit from 

 them. 



It is also interesting and curious to note that 

 a bird which inhabits two countries, in summer 

 and winter, regulates his habits in accordance with 

 the degree of friendliness or hostility exhibited 

 towards him by the human inhabitants of the re- 

 spective areas. The bird has in fact two tradi- 

 tions with regard to man's attitude towards him 

 — one for each country. Thus, the field-fare is 

 an exceedingly shy bird in England, but when 

 he returns to the north if his breeding place is 

 in some inhabited district in northern Sweden or 

 Norway he loses all his wildness and builds 

 his nest quite close to the houses. My friend 

 Trevor Battye saw a pair busy making their nest 

 in a small birch within a few yards of the front 

 door of a house he was staying at. "How 

 strange," said he to the man of the house, "to 

 see field-fares making a nest in such a place !" 



