THE UNDERLYING IDEA 69 



the struggle of life lies in the fact that he is unafraid 

 of man. He is wary of man; by which I mean he will 

 quickly fly up from in front of man's feet. It is ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to catch a sparrow in one's hand. 

 It is far easier to lure a pigeon within reach. But 

 the sparrow, when escaping your hands, comes to rest 

 but a slight distance away, only to elude you quite as 

 successfully if you try again. If the sparrow is let 

 severely alone he becomes more and more familiar 

 with men, flies less promptly, and goes a shorter dis- 

 tance, but any attempt to trap him renders him shy 

 more quickly than almost any other bird we have. 

 He soon learns to avoid a trap in which his compan- 

 ions have come to grief. Those who would poison 

 or trap sparrows must change constantly the base of 

 their operations. This fearlessness of man is a valu- 

 able asset to the bird, for it is an important defense 

 against other foes. 



The most serious enemy the birds at large have, 

 after man himself, is the bird of prey. Hawks and 

 owls capture a large quantity of our smaller birds. 

 Now the hawks and owls are for the most part shy 

 of man. They have gotten a bad reputation, espe- 

 cially if they are of any size, because of their more 

 or less pronounced proclivities for seizing our domes- 

 tic poultry, and consequently many people will fire 

 upon a hawk or an owl who would probably fire upon 



