CHAPTER XV 



TAMING WILD BIRDS WITHOUT A CAGE 



MANY illustrations could be given of birds which in most 

 parts of their range are wild or shy while in others they 

 are very tame, and the same principle underlies them all. Wild- 

 ness is due to fear, which is partly inherited and partly learned 

 by experience with this wicked world. Tameness, on the other 

 hand, comes with the casting out of fear, and may be brought 

 about by the formation of new habits which are either spon- 

 taneous or forced. 



The House Sparrows of the Tuileries, and the pious Stork of 

 Holland, Germany, and France, are familiar examples of birds 

 whose near or remote ancestors are shy and wary. The Stork 

 when migrating in vast flocks along the borders of the desert 

 and in the valley of the Nile is wary and hard to approach, yet 

 it comes with confidence to the village and town, builds its nests 

 upon housetops and steeples, and struts about the streets and 

 door-yards in search of food. 



It would be interesting to know how long the Doves of Venice 

 have enjoyed the freedom of the Piazza del Marco. They are 

 probably the best fed pigeons in the world, and few hours pass 

 in the course of the day when their guardian, the vendor of sacks 

 of corn, is not surrounded by his flock. They will alight all over 

 you, and take the grain from hand or mouth. The Pigeon, it 

 is true, has been long domesticated and responds more readily to 

 friendly influences than the wild stock from which it has sprung. 



Strange and possibly true stories are told of persons who have 

 won the confidence of beast or bird. The wild bird responds 

 to their call, and the quadruped comes forth from his den and 



