286 THE INVITATION. 



The circumstance of the bluebirds being 

 emboldened by the cold suggests the fact 

 that the fear of man, which now seems like 

 an instinct in the birds, is evidently an ac- 

 quired trait, and foreign to them in a state 

 of primitive nature. Every gunner has ob- 

 served, to his chagrin, how wild the pigeons 

 become after a few days of firing among 

 them ; and to his delight, how easy it is to 

 approach near his game in new or unfre- 

 quented woods. Professor Baird tells me 

 that a correspondent of theirs visited a small 

 island in the Pacific Ocean, situated about 

 two hundred miles off Cape St. Lucas, to 

 procure specimens. The island was but a 

 few miles in extent, and had probably never 

 been visited half a dozen times by human 

 beings. The naturalist found the birds and 

 water-fowls so tame that it was but a waste 

 of ammunition to shoot them. Fixing a 

 noose on the end of a long stick, he captured 

 them by putting it over their necks, and 

 hauling them to him. In some cases not 

 even this contrivance was needed. A species 

 of mocking-bird, in particular, larger than 

 ours, and a splendid songster, made itself 

 so familiar as to be almost a nuisance, hop- 

 ping on the table where the collector was 



