92 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



told about quite different birds in different 

 parts of the world, can be quite without 

 foundation, but it would be interesting to 

 know exactly how much truth there is in 

 them. 



The small bird may attack the big one 

 simply for fun and mischief, as the sparrow 

 chases pigeons ; and the big bird, in his 

 wild terror, may simply overbalance himself 

 in the air and come down like a damaged 

 aeroplane and so be really killed by the fall. 

 At any rate even the eagle cannot do anything 

 when a smaller but more active bird attacks 

 him, as is done by the flycatcher called the 

 king-bird in North America, though in this 

 case no harm happens to the giant who is 

 being bullied by a dwarf. 



Even in the case of birds which are all of 

 one species, like fowls, we can see giants and 

 dwarfs, but in this case the great differences 

 have been developed to some extent by 

 fanciers selecting the biggest or the smallest 

 for keeping ; in this way very great extremes 

 in size may be obtained, as one can see at any 

 poultry show. The biggest fowl I ever heard 

 or read of was a Brahma cock mentioned by 



