120 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



prey he can attack with a good chance of suc- 

 cess, so as not to waste his time over creatures 

 which are too swift or strong for him. It is 

 not of much use for a sparrow-hawk to chase 

 swallows, and an eagle must be careful how it 

 seizes a wild cat or a fox. No doubt many of 

 the strongest and fiercest birds come to an un- 

 timely end by seizing a prey which is too strong 

 for them, while they are young and inex- 

 perienced ; for there must be some reason 

 why these powerful birds, which also live a 

 long time, are not more common, and some- 

 times such birds have been seen to be killed 

 by creatures they have seized. 



The little singing -birds, also, have their 

 music-lessons, for it is not all of them that can 

 sing their proper song without hearing it sung 

 by old birds of their own kind. They may do 

 so, if the song is of a very short and simple 

 kind, just as the young cock will crow if he 

 has been hatched in an incubator and brought 

 up in a " foster-mother " ; but a really good 

 song must be learnt. A young nightingale 

 brought up in a cage may have a good voice, 

 but he will not sing his real and beautiful song 

 unless he has heard an old bird sing it many 



