254 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



the edibility of an object by weighing it in their 

 beaks, and are often slow in taking to a new food, 

 as when beans are given to Pigeons, and white peas 

 to Fowls. 



Generally speaking, the tastes of birds are not 

 so very unlike our own, having regard to the 

 immense variety of human tastes ; the Peregrine 

 Falcon, for instance, though it will eat Rooks and 

 Gulls, much prefers Ducks, Grouse, and Pigeons ; 

 and I found the whitebeam berries which the birds 

 so much appreciated had a mealy, satisfying taste, 

 like mashed potatoes the sort of thing one does 

 not get tired of. Yet on the other hand, birds 

 eagerly eat the sour, bitter berries of the mountain- 

 ash, though even these are made by some people 

 into jelly. 



Both wild and captive birds readily take to many 

 of the standard articles of human food, even though 

 not suffering actual hunger, as every one may see 

 in the fondness for bread they so often exhibit ; 

 sugar, too, is often greatly relished ; I have seen 

 Sparrows eat it in the powdered state in my rooms 

 in Calcutta, and carry it off by the lump at the 

 Crystal Palace. 



A more curious taste is that for milk, which 

 appeals to a great variety of birds, and makes one 

 wonder if the Nightjar's classical reputation as a 

 goat-sucker, and the Zulu rendering of its cry 

 " Milk for your people," is such a fable after all, its 

 mouth certainly being big enough to perform the 

 featl 



