yesterday the wildest and wariest of all the 

 feathered folk. Then the startling paradox 

 occurred to me that the very wildest of the 

 creatures are the easiest to tame by man and 

 the quickest to adopt his ways. The spar- 

 rows that live about our houses all their days 

 have little fear of men; but at the first 

 attempt to catch them they are suspicious 

 for life, and to domesticate them would be 

 an impossibility. So with the ruffed grouse, o \r 

 a very tame bird in his native wilderness, C7 ^Jj 

 that barely moves aside to let men pass ; £? ^°tj 

 yet all attempts to domesticate him or ?;\ 

 to make him content with safe quarters c K~j 

 and abundant fare have been, with a few 

 rare exceptions, unaccountable failures. 

 He lets you come near and watch him 

 readily enough ; but the moment you 

 put him in your coop the very 

 spirit of wildness takes posses- 

 sion of him, and he dies in the 

 attempt to regain his freedom. 

 The wild goose, on the other 

 hand, the wariest and 

 wildest of birds when 



191 



In Quest of 



