CHAPTER II 



BIRDS AND MAN 



To most of our wild birds man must seem a very 

 anomalous being, eccentric and contradictory in 

 his actions. By turns he is hostile, indifferent, 

 friendly towards them, so that they never quite 

 know what to expect. Take the case of a black- 

 bird who has gradually acquired trustful habits, 

 and builds its nest in the garden or shrubbery in 

 sight of the friends that have fed it in frosty 

 weather ; so little does it fear that it allows them 

 to come a dozen times a day, put the branches 

 aside and look upon it, and even stroke its back 

 as it sits on its eggs. By and by a neighbour's 

 egg-hunting boy creeps in, discovers the nest, 

 and pulls it down. The bird finds itself betrayed 

 by its confidence ; had it suspected the boy's evil 



intentions it would have made an outcry at his 



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