BIRD INTIMACIES 



If the birds themselves are not afraid to draw 

 near us, why should their instinct lead them to feel 

 that their enemies will be afraid of us? How do 

 they know that a jay or a crow or a red squirrel 

 will be less timid than they are? And why also, 

 if they have such confidence in us, do they raise 

 such a hue and cry when we pass near their nests? 

 The robin in my summer-house knew, if she knew 

 anything, that I had never raised a finger against 

 her. On the contrary, my hoe in the garden had 

 unearthed many a worm and slug for her. Still 

 she sees in me only a possible enemy, and tolerate 

 me with my book or my newspaper near her nest 

 she will not. Another robin has built her nest 

 in a rosebush that has been trained to form 

 an arch over the walk that leads to the kitchen 

 door and only a few yards from it; but when- 

 ever we pass and repass she scurries away with 

 loud, angry protests and keeps it up as long as 

 we are in sight, so that we do not feel at all 

 complimented by her settling down so near us. If 

 one's appearance is so alarming, even when he 

 is going to hoe the garden, why did the intolerant 

 bird set up her household gods so near? If I 

 keep away her enemies, why will she not be 

 gracious enough to regard me as her friend? 

 The robin that trusted her brood to the shelter- 

 ing vines of the woodshed, and lined her nest with 

 the hair of our old gray horse — why should she 



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