CHAPTER II 



BIRDS AND MAN 



To most of our wild birds man must appear as a 

 being eccentric and contradictory in his actions. 

 By turns he is hostile, indifferent, friendly towards 

 them, so that they never quite know what to expect. 

 Take the case of a blackbird who has gradually 

 acquired trustful habits, and builds its nest in the 

 garden or shrubbery in sight of the friends that have 

 fed it in frosty weather ; so little does it fear that 

 it allows them to come a dozen times a day, put the 

 branches aside and look upon it, and even stroke 

 its back as it sits on its eggs. By and by a neigh- 

 bour's egg-hunting boy creeps in, discovers the nest, 

 and pulls it down. The bird finds itself betrayed 

 by its confidence; had it suspected the boy's evil 

 intentions it would have made an outcry at his 

 approach, as at the appearance of a cat, and the 

 nest would perhaps have been saved. The result of 

 such an accident would probably be the unsettling 

 of an acquired habit, the return to the usual sus- 

 picious attitude. 



37 



