CHARACTER. 
99 
respect, and may be felicitated on the unconditional 
obedience of their followers. A feeling of weakness links 
birds also with mammals and human beings :—a hunted 
Redstart will seek safety among a herd of cows; Pigeons 
and Sparrows will take refuge through the windows of 
human habitations, as though they knew that there they 
would receive shelter; even a Partridge, chased by a 
Hawk, has been known to throw itself at the feet of a 
ploughman to escape its deadly enemy. 
Did man but encourage the birds which seek his 
society, there is no doubt his company would be more 
diligently sought after. By nature these light-hearted 
creatures are not distrustful, though they may become so 
when their confidence is abused; they are generally on 
familiar terms with other animals, and approach them 
without fear, and man also; but, unfortunately, on 
nearer acquaintance with the latter they must often learn, 
to their cost, that danger lurks with too great intimacy; 
and this makes them as shy as they were formerly fear¬ 
less. In uninhabited regions, like the Steppes or pri¬ 
maeval forest, and on desert islands, &c., the birds which 
inhabit them look upon the appearance of man certainly 
with astonishment, though not with fear. The Auks, 
Penguins,, and Eider Ducks, which have their abode by 
thousands on the icebergs of the Polar seas, allowed 
themselves to be caught by the hand by those sailors who 
first landed on their domain. The Larks of the Desert 
used to run fearlessly into my tent. The same may be 
observed in all places, where birds are conscious that 
shelter will be afforded them. On the other side we see 
just as plainly how easily their trustful natures may 
become changed through rude experience. The Bohemian 
Waxwings, which in hard winters sometimes appear 
