Taming Wild Birds without a Cage. 



1 27 



there must be some means of breaking the ice, or beginnini^ a course of instruction, 

 by chaining it to a fixed point. In case of birds with young the invisible chain is 

 parental instinct, which inhibits fear and liolds the animal to a given spot. We will at- 

 tempt to analyze the taming process by the use of food and young birds as lures, and 

 finally consider the similar experiments which nature occasionally conducts independ- 

 ently and on a larger scale. 



I throw some cracked corn out of my window, and it is soon discovered by the 

 ubiquitous Sparrows. When 

 the}' see me standing behind 

 the pane they are afraid to 

 approach, but they are also 

 hungry. At last the impulse 

 to get the food overcomes 

 their fears, and they are re- 

 warded by the feeling of pleas- 

 ure and satisfaction. When 

 they come repeatedly, each 

 time reaping a reward without 

 evil consequences, a new habit 

 is gradually formed by the 

 repetition of the act. The 

 pleasure of getting food is 

 gradually associatetl with fly- 

 ing to a certain spot in the 

 presence of objects which in 

 the course of time become 

 familiar. If the contrary im- 

 pulse, due in this case to hun- 

 ger, is sufficiently strong, the 

 process ma)' be carried forward 

 step by step until the birds 

 come to the hand for food. 

 With the gregarious Sparrow, 

 however, life in a populous 

 town is usually too compli- 

 cated to admit of carrying out 

 the experiment with success in any reasonable time. 



There are many species which respond more rapidly than the wily Sparrow. Of 

 these, I will mention the Chickadee, Nuthatch, Canada Jay, and Goose. The Chickadee 

 has to work harder for a living in winter than the Sparrow, is far less gregarious and 

 wary by nature, and is seemingly endowed with a keen sense of curiosity. Mr. Chapman 

 thus speaks of the behavior of some of these birds in Central Park, New York City, 

 in February: "the)' would often flutter before one's face and plainly give expression to 

 their desire for food, which they took from one's hand without the slightest evidence 

 of fear. Sometimes they even remained to pick the nut from a shell while perched on 



Fig. 124. Female Robin in act of nest-cleaning, 

 back. See Chapter XII. 



She approaches at the 



