BIEDS AND MEN 165 



an hour of the day when one or more of the beautiful 

 birds is not seated on the railing of the balcony, and 

 gazing in upon us. How well they know the sound of a 

 window being raised or lowered, and from what a distance 

 they hear it ! In a moment they appear from all direc- 

 tions, hovering in the air, their wings beating and their 

 small pink feet doubled up beneath their breasts. Would 

 it not be heartless to open or close a window without 

 scattering at least a handful of corn upon the sill? During 

 the last few months these pigeons of ours have been very 

 well behaved. They do not quarrel, and when the 

 balcony is full, late arrivals jump down on the backs 

 of those who were before them, or even walk over their 

 massed bodies until they find a corner into which they 

 can squeeze themselves. All this is borne with the utmost 

 good nature. But in the earlier part of the year it was 

 very different. 



Certainly our friends the squirrels accustomed us to 

 gome display of temper ; but in the season when they 

 court and mate our pigeons are sadly quick to anger, and 

 the males, when they are not showing off their charms, 

 are usually engaged in some violent altercation. And just 

 as one squirrel would neglect to take its own nuts while 

 it chattered in fury at the others who approached, or 

 chased them away, so it is with the pigeons. What a fuss 

 they make, how they turn round and round dancing with 

 rage, their bosoms swelling with indignation, their feathers 

 ruffled with the tumult of their anger. And in this way, 

 too, the gay males waltz, when they spread their wings 

 before the females, and puff out their breasts so as to 

 show off to the best advantage the changing hues of their 

 iridescent necks. They will lower their heads to trie 

 ground, and raise them and lower them again, so that the 

 sun may glitter on their brilliant feathers. At such times 

 the best fighters would often succeed in keeping away the 

 more timid of the birds, who would afterwards come by 

 themselves to be fed. And among these our friends is 



