OLD FRIENDS IN NEW PLACES 
others are trespassers. They charge spitefully upon 
one another, but rarely come to blows. Just what 
makes one give way so readily before another, with- 
out any test of strength, is a puzzle. Is the author- 
ity in the eye, in the bearing, or is it just a matter of 
audacity and self-assertion? There may be timid 
and retiring souls among the birds as well as among 
other folk. I am inclined to think that usually it is 
the males bullying the females. Occasionally two 
males, known by their more conspicuous markings, 
confront each other and rise in the air a yard or 
two, beak to beak, and then separate. 
During the mating season there is mutual aid and 
codperation between the sexes, the male bird often 
feeding the female. But at other times there is lit- 
tle friendliness, certainly no gallantry. The downy 
woodpecker in winter will drive the female spitefully 
away from the bone or the suet on the tree in front 
of my window till he is first served. I have never 
seen crows quarrel or strive with one another over 
their food. On the contrary, if the crow discovers 
food in winter, he seems glad to be joined by a com- 
panion or several of them. The crow is a generous 
bird; he has the true social instinct. He will watch 
while his fellow feeds; he cheerfully shares his last 
morsel with a comrade. How different from any of 
the hawk tribe! A farm-boy living near me brought 
up four young sparrow hawks in a cage. They were 
as jealous of one another over their food as cats are, 
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