35 8 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



and, on the whole, in rather a desultory way. 

 Alone, these problems present a field whose vast- 

 ness psychologists appreciate. 



What do we know of the leisure of animals ? 

 Do they have leisure, and how do they utilize it ? 



Finally, let us consider what may be termed 

 opportunity. I have said that in the tentative 

 establishment which I have fostered there are 

 perhaps some five hundred birds. I had occasion 

 the other day to show a friend of particular 

 intelligence this collection. We commented on 

 the beauty of color, the grace of form and move- 

 ment, the alertness, and the aesthetic pleasure de- 

 rived therefrom, and from song. We looked at 

 the wood-thrushes, meadow-larks, song-sparrows 

 and bluebirds, rose-breasted grosbeaks and ori- 

 oles, at the weaver-birds and toucans, at the jays 

 and plovers. In the breeding room a new brood 

 of hybrids, which I then discovered for the first 

 time, were of interest. They were crosses be- 

 tween the siskin of Europe and a canary. In 

 other rooms we saw parroquets from Australia, 

 macaws from South America, and the white cock- 

 atoo from New Guinea. The mina laughed and 

 talked with us, the jackdaws watched us in a 

 furtive way. The whole was entertaining — a 

 busy scene of life ! My friend seemed both 

 amused and deeply interested, and so we left 

 them. That night, coming home from some en- 



