WAYS OF NATURE 



kindreds of the wild. He went not furtively. He had 

 no particular objection to making a noise. He did 

 not consider it necessary to stop every little while, 

 stiffen himself to a monument of immobility, cast 

 wary glances about the gloom, and sniff the air for 

 the taint of enemies. He did not care who knew of 

 his coming, and he did not greatly care who came. 

 Behind his panoply of biting spears he felt himself 

 secure, and in that security he moved as if he held 

 in fee the whole green, shadowy, perilous woodland 

 world." 



III. BIRDS AND STRINGS 



A college professor writes me as follows : — 

 ''Watching this morning a robin attempting to 

 carry off a string, one end of which was caught in 

 a tree, I was much impressed by his utter lack of 

 sense. He could not realize that the string was fast, 

 or that it must be loosened before it could be car- 

 ried off, and in his efforts to get it all in his bill he 

 wound it about a neighboring limb. If as little sense 

 were displayed in using other material for nests, 

 there would be no robins' nests. It impressed me 

 more than ever with the important part played by 

 instinct." 



Who ever saw any of our common birds dis- 

 play any sense or judgment in the handling of 

 strings ? Strings are comparatively a new thing with 

 birds; they are not a natural product, and as a 

 246 



