162 DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



horses, cattle, nor poultry ; and the pestiferous street spar- 

 row plucks at their fluttering edges for nesting materials. 

 Removed bodily or piecemeal to the woods or meadows, 

 they produce no effect ; but single animals scizzored from 

 them usually do. But not if they are very large. A paper 

 lion never excites even the curiosity of a cow, so I infer 

 that the sense of smell has much to do with the matter. 

 Horses have frequently been frightened by animals which 

 they could not see at the time, and had probably never 

 seen, their sense of smell alone telling them of the prox- 

 imity of a dangerous foe. 



Representations of men, although quite life-like and of 

 life size, are ignored by all birds, unless it be the crows, 

 which are more cautious but never stand off for any 

 length of time. The enterprising farmer who bought a 

 tobacconist's wooden Indian to use as a scare-crow was 

 sadly disappointed. Every morning at sunrise he saw a 

 crow perched upon the Indian's crown, keeping watch 

 that his fellows in the field might not suffer a surprise. 

 Later it was tied near the top of a cherry tree to protect 

 the fruit, but not a bird feared it. I should like a wooden 

 figure of a man, dressed as we dress, and fairly represent- 

 ing man, as the wild birds are accustomed to seeing him, 

 to be tested as this fanciful Indian figure was. Possibly 

 we might have other results ; and yet the most life-like 

 dummies I have ever seen fail very soon to protect our 

 fields from the crows. 



Even fish are more ready to recognize portraits than 

 are some birds, but the object depicted must be free from 

 all association with other objects or with landscape. I 

 varnished a drawing of a pike, and placed it in a com- 

 manding position in a brook. The minnows immediately 

 fled from the spot, and for some time did not come near ; 

 but when the water had removed the varnish in part and 

 the fierce pike became a limp and rumpled bit of paste- 



