May 



of males, the absence of true pairing, the degenera- 

 tion of maternal affection, are all correlated, and 

 largely explicable in terms of the fundamental con- 

 trast between nutrition and reproduction, between 

 hunger and love. Similar unnatural or immoral 

 instincts in birds, in mammals, and even in the lower 

 animals, are explicable in similar terms. The 

 cuckoo's habit is a natural outcrop of the general 

 character or constitution, only one expression of a 

 dominant diathesis." 



The above characteristics are, as it will be seen, 

 with one exception, derivative ; only one the 

 insatiable appetite being primary. If the gluttony 

 of the cuckoo could be explained, the rest would 

 follow as a corollary. The bird's principal food, 

 whilst with us, is the hairy caterpillar of the tiger 

 moth the so-called " woolly bear." 



My first robin's nest of the season is shown in 

 the illustration, and was found in the opening days 

 of May. Although this bird affects human habita- 

 tions during the winter months, early in the spring 

 large numbers draw off to the woods and hedge- 

 banks, and there the male, at no time a mean 

 songster, surpasses himself in the first ardour of 

 spring love stimulated to the point of conflict by 

 the rival songs of his fellows. For the red breast of 

 the robin is symbolic ; he is a born fighter. When, 

 walking in the country lanes, I have turned to 

 behold a robin on low hedge-top or gate-post within 

 a couple of yards from me, it has been with a start 



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