OLD FRIENDS IN NEW PLACES 



others are trespassers. They charge spitefully upon 

 one another, but rarely come to blows. Just what 

 makes one give way so readily before another, with- 

 out any test of strength, is a puzzle. Is the author- 

 ity in the eye, in the bearing, or is it just a matter of 

 audacity and self-assertion? There may be timid 

 and retiring souls among the birds as well as among 

 other folk. I am inclined to think that usually it is 

 the males bullying the females. Occasionally two 

 males, known by their more conspicuous markings, 

 confront each other and rise in the air a yard or 

 two, beak to beak, and then separate. 



During the mating season there is mutual aid and 

 cooperation between the sexes, the male bird often 

 feeding the female. But at other times there is lit- 

 tle friendliness, certainly no gallantry. The downy 

 woodpecker in winter will drive the female spitefully 

 away from the bone or the suet on the tree in front 

 of my window till he is first served. I have never 

 seen crows quarrel or strive with one another over 

 their food. On the contrary, if the crow discovers 

 food in winter, he seems glad to be joined by a com- 

 panion or several of them. The crow is a generous 

 bird; he has the true social instinct. He will watch 

 while his fellow feeds; he cheerfully shares his last 

 morsel with a comrade. How different from any of 

 the hawk tribe ! A farm-boy living near me brought 

 up four young sparrow hawks in a cage. They were 

 as jealous of one another over their food as cats are, 

 101 



