THE UNDERLYING IDEA 69 
the struggle of life lies in the fact that he is unafraid 
of man. He is wary of man; by which I mean he will 
quickly fly up from in front of man’s feet. It is ex- 
ceedingly difficult to catch a sparrow in one’s hand. 
It is far easier to lure a pigeon within reach. But 
the sparrow, when escaping your hands, comes to rest 
but a slight distance away, only to elude you quite as 
successfully if you try again. If the sparrow is let 
severely alone he becomes more and more familiar 
with men, flies less promptly, and goes a shorter dis- 
tance, but any attempt to trap him renders him shy 
more quickly than almost any other bird we have. 
He soon learns to avoid a trap in which his compan- 
ions have come to grief. Those who would poison 
or trap sparrows must change constantly the base of 
their operations. This fearlessness of man is a valu- 
able asset to the bird, for it is an important defense 
against other foes. 
The most serious enemy the birds at large have, 
after man himself, is the bird of prey. Hawks and 
owls capture a large quantity of our smaller birds. 
Now the hawks and owls are for the most part shy 
of man. They have gotten a bad reputation, espe- 
cially if they are of any size, because of their more 
or less pronounced proclivities for seizing our domes- 
tic poultry, and consequently many people will fire 
upon a hawk or an owl who would probably fire upon 
