25 8 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



We must always remember that the mind of 

 birds is more like that of a young child or of a 

 savage than of an adult of a civilized race of men, 

 and this will help us to understand their actions 

 in many difficult cases. The apparent indifference 

 of birds to courting displays, for instance, may be 

 very like the behaviour of small children to a 

 stranger who takes notice of them ; children are 

 often in such a case apparently quite unconcerned, 

 but their friendliness on the next occasion, or 

 what one is told by their parents, will generally 

 show that " they appreciated advances which they 

 seemed to ignore at the time — a fact I have often 

 been witness of, as I have the honour to be among 

 those in whom children instinctively place con- 

 fidence. 



When a bird happens to have the same mode of 

 expression as a mammal, the resemblance in its 

 actions is often startHngly close ; thus, for instance, 

 it is well known that beasts have a habit — which 

 appears generally considered extremely touching, 

 but is to me peculiarly nasty — of licking their 

 friends. . Birds do not generally do this, not be- 

 cause they are cold-natured, but because it is not 

 generally their custom to lick anybody or anything ; 

 but, to my great interest, a specimen of the Black 

 Lory (Chalcopsittacus ater), the tamest of Parrots 

 and one of a honey-licking group, licked my hand 

 as soon as I put it near the cage on our first intro- 

 duction at Mr. Ezra's London flat ; and a chained 

 specimen whose acquaintance I made years before 



