MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE BIRDS 



487 



other matter of interest, as showing how fear is trans- 

 mitted, was that the few domestic ducks which were 

 placed with the wild ones and which previously fed from 

 our hands, immediately became wild, and even the pet 

 Indian runners skulked in the corners like the freshly 

 caught black ducks. Thus, in nature, individuals that 

 might otherwise be tame, absorb fear from their more 

 timid brothers. 



It has been said previously that it is only abnormal 

 birds in which fear is lacking and that their number is 

 exceedingly small. In an experience with thousands 

 of birds, I have found a few chickadees, one wood 

 ])ewee and one Rlackburnian warbler which without the 



\0 FRIENDSHIP HERE 



Apparently this black-throated blue warbler has no fear of man but in 

 reality its timidity is merely overwhelmed by its instinct to feed its young. 

 It was necessary to remain absolutely quiet or fear remained uppermost 

 note the mosquitoes on the hand. 



lure of food or anything else would allow one to touch 

 them or would alight on one's person with absolutely 

 no show of fear. One could walk up to the pewee, for 

 example, as it sat on a low branch and touch its tail 

 while it watched w i t h a 

 merely inquisitive look. 1 

 have found quite a number, 

 however, in which the in- 

 stinct to incubate or to de- 

 fend the nest was greater 

 than the instinct of fear. 

 These birds would allow 

 themselves to be handled 

 on the nest but, away from 

 it, they were quite timid. 

 I have met with a number 

 of others which, through 

 the stress of cold or hun- 

 ger, would allow them- 

 selves to be touched or 



I PROTECT THE BIRDS AS A WAR MEASURE | 

 J 'J^HE food destroyed in America by insects and 1 



small rodents would feed the people of Bel- | 

 1 gium ! Birds are the great natural enemies of 1 

 these pests. The laws protect insect-eating birds, 1 

 but many are being shot wantonly and for food. | 

 1 Every American has a direct, personal interest g 

 j in seeing that these laws are properly enforced. 1 

 1 Protection to birds means protection to the Na- 

 1 tional Food Supply. Report to the nearest game | 



warden all violations of the laws protecting the | 

 1 birds. 1 



FEEDING "JIMMIE" 

 Young birds, even of the wary crow, if taken from the nest before fear 

 develops, become so tame as to be almost obnoxious. If taken later, they 

 often remain wild. 



would take food from the hand, but in all cases fear 

 still persisted although dominated by other instincts. Thus 

 in the accompanying photographs, the Blackburnian 

 warbler, the blue-headed viieo and the ring-necked pheas- 

 ant are held by the powerful instinct to incubate, although 

 all three have the fear ol man. The least bittern is 

 actively defending its nest. The fear of the chestnut- 

 sided and black-throated blue warblers is overcome by 

 the instinct to feed their young, while the chickadee is 

 lured by food and the wild ducks by actual starvation. 

 None of them, however, with the possible exception of 

 the chickadee, could be said to be without fear. We have 

 not, then, made friends with them, but merely have taken 

 advantage of a temporary abnormal condition and, as 

 soon a? the instinct to incubate or to feed the young 

 passes or the hunger is appeased, the birds once more 



assume a more normal at- 

 titude toward man. 



Bradford Torrey, in his 

 charming essays, relates 

 his delight at the discovery 

 of an incubating vireo that 

 would take food from his 

 hand and permit itself to 

 be stroked on the nest and 

 tells of his disappointment 

 when he learned that this 

 w a s n o special privilege 

 permitted him, but that all 

 people were treated alike. 

 It was not a case of mak- 

 ing friends with a bird, but 



