118 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



animals are dangerous, and how far they must 

 keep away from each foe they may meet. 



For instance, a young skylark must learn 

 to get well away as soon as he even sees the 

 swift merlin, which will try to fairly chase 

 him down, but he need not keep so far off 

 from the sparrow-hawk, which can only catch 

 him if it comes upon him suddenly and can 

 clutch him in its short fierce rush. 



Because of this need for learning the look 

 of enemies and what they can do, it turns out 

 that a bird may be wilder when it is young 

 than when it is grown-up, the opposite of what 

 one might expect. In Calcutta the house- 

 crows are all about the streets, and you can 

 notice that the newly-fledged young birds, 

 which can be told from their parents by not 

 having such glossy plumage, are more timid 

 than the old ones are. If you point a stick 

 or an umbrella at them they will jump, or 

 dodge in their flight; but an old crow will 

 not care, for he knows that these things are 

 not guns. But if you simply show a gun to an 

 old crow, he will be off in no time, for it is 

 not necessary to point it at him he knows 

 what it is well enough. 



