FOR CAGES AND A VI ARIES. 



119 



unconsciously, be the means of getting someone into trouble. 

 As everybody knows who has read Cowper, the Jackdaw 

 also frequents church towers, and breeds there as well as 

 among ruins, but he rarely builds a nest in trees, though 

 instances are on record of his having taken possession of 

 the deserted abode of a Rook or of a Carrion Crow. 



There is a very stupid notion abroad in some quarters, 

 though happily, one 

 hears much less of it 

 than was the case a 

 few years ago, that the 

 Raven, Crow, Jackdaw, 

 and Starling, as well 

 as the Jay and Magpie, 

 and some other birds, 

 must have the tongue 

 slit in order that they 

 may learn to repeat 

 human speech. It is as 

 astonishing how such 

 an idea can have first 

 arisen, as it is that it 

 should have survived 

 so long. If you ask 

 the person who puts 

 the question : "Why ? " 

 you will get no answer, 

 or at least be told that 

 the querist has heard 

 so, or that it is usually 

 done, or some other 

 equally inconsequent 

 "reason"; but it is a 

 mistake altogether. In the first place, it is horribly cruel to 

 mutilate an unfortunate bird in such a manner, for the 

 tongue is the most sensitive organ it possesses after the 

 eye, and is used not only as one of taste, but as a tactile 

 instrument of extreme sensitiveness and delicacy, and 

 when it is injured, the bird may fairly be said to be 

 deprived of one of the greatest pleasures of its existence. 



THE JACKDAW 



