Photograph by J. Peat Millar, Beith. 
YOUNG ROBINS. 
NOTES 
AND 
COMMENTS. 
THE Red-breast is a bird of sound judgment and no little common sense. He knows 
that the British Public is always ready to fall a prey to sentiment, and 
The Robin. he has learnt that nothing appeals more to the English heart than a 
confiding nature. Therefore, when the snow falls and food is not easy to 
find, he takes his courage in both hands, 
so to speak, and boldly enters the portals 
of his human neighbours, demanding as 
plainly as possible their patronage and pro- 
tection. He knows full well that the sight 
of a helpless little one always touches a 
weak spot somewhere in that big human 
heart. Other birds would rather starve 
than beg, toil and slave all day rather 
than accept charity, but not so the robin, 
who knows from experience the power of 
an appeal ad misericordiam, even if he has 
not learnt that it 1s a logical fallacy; but 
that little matters to him so long as the 
result is the same, and the same it will 
ever remain so long as the British Matron 
listens to the dictates of her heart rather 
than to those of her head. 
We" 
THE pair of young barred owls reproduced 
; on this page 1s from a photo- 
OE AUN erevolh (oy IDE, 18, WY. Slnuttellete. 
These birds are sometimes 
also called hoot owls from the weird mocking 
laugh, haw-haw, hoo-hoo, which they make 
between twilight and midnight. Woods, 
waysides and sheltered farms are the barred 
owl’s hunting grounds. Though not entirely 
innocent of the blood of poultry or game, its 
YOUNG BARRED OWLS. 
(Syrnium nebulosum.) 
