84 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



coming from the same gifted throat. But with 

 the lizards and the nest- plundering jays to 

 watch and the ever-annoying snakes and 

 hawks to fear, who could keep from getting 

 bad-tempered and from scolding and protesting 

 once in a while? Often it seems that the whole 

 programme of bird life has resolved itself into a 

 war between the eaters and the eaten. Seeing 

 as one does this tragedy of the world of small 

 creatures, one sometimes wonders how birds 

 can be as happy as they are or develop any 

 incentive for song. 



Almost the instant after escape from immi- 

 nent danger, birds in most cases seem to return 

 to their former state of apparent tranquillity 

 and joy. Only thus could they endure to live 

 in their world of constant danger. Evidently 

 they carry lightly the load of worry, if they 

 carry it at all, and the dread of life's dangers 

 exists in their minds only at the time of their 

 being engaged by force of circumstances to 

 realize them. Did man live in such a world and 

 retain his present mental tendency to worry, 

 he would wear himself to a near if not a true 

 insanity of fear. 



