Taming Wild Birds without a Cage 243 



quickly aroused and directed towards particular objects. The 

 timidity of this bird in March after a brief experience with the 

 ways of men is therefore virtually an acquired character, and 

 there is no evidence that it is handed down by inheritance. 



The breeding range of many northern birds covers a vast area, 

 and in different sections there is reason to expect much variation 

 in the habits of the same species. The timidity of the Arctic 

 birds referred to may have been due to local conditions affecting 

 a relatively small number, or the birds may have been young 

 individuals whose intuitive fear had not been worn away, or old 

 ones possessed of a wisdom derived from extensive travel south- 

 ward. Among birds which are reputed to be shy, tamer indi- 

 viduals are to be found, and many acquire the habit of nesting in 

 gardens and often close to houses. In the Galapagos Islands, 

 where birds had lived in comparative security for ages with no 

 fierce and relentless enemies to mar their tranquillity, the in- 

 stinct of fear had not only lapsed, but the power of forming new 

 habits had weakened. It is therefore not surprising that they 

 should be slow in acquiring a fear of man, but any animal which 

 finally fails in the face of constant persecution to profit by ex- 

 perience has touched the lowest depths of stupidity, and its 

 days are numbered. 



