UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 
which are preyed upon that show excessive caution 
and fear. One can well understand how the constant 
danger of being eaten does not contribute to the 
ease and composure of any creature, and why these 
which are so beset are in a state of what we call ner- 
vousness most of the time. Behold the small ro- 
dents — rats, mice, squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks, 
and the like; they act as if they felt the eyes of the 
mink or the weasel or the cat or the hawk upon 
them all the time. 
Among the birds some are much more nervous 
and “panicky” than others. The woodpeckers are 
less so than the thrushes and finches; the jays less 
than the starlings and the game-birds. The seed- 
eaters and fruit-eaters are probably preyed upon 
much more than the purely insectivorous birds, 
because doubtless their flesh is sweeter. 
Birds of prey have few enemies apart from man. 
Among the land animals we ourselves prefer the 
flesh of the vegetable-eaters, and the carnivora do 
the same. We all want to get as near to the vege- 
table as we can, even in our meat-eating. 
The birds, even the prettiest of them, are little 
savages. In watching from my window the feeding 
white-throats and song sparrows, I cannot help no- 
ticing how ungenerously they behave toward one 
another — apparently not one of them willing to 
share the feast with another. Each seems to think 
the food his or her special discovery and that the 
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