CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
185 
cow and the horse have become almost entirely dependent upon 
man, and the dog has been bred and trained to do his will and 
to render the various types of service required of him for so 
many generations that those activities have become to him 
second nature. Distinct types, such as pointer and setter, have 
been developed to assist man in hunting, and the collie and 
shepherd have adapted themselves to watching and herding 
sheep and cattle. 
To most of the lower animals man must appear eccentric 
and contradictory in his actions. By turn he is hostile, indif¬ 
ferent or friendly toward them, so that they never know ex¬ 
actly what to expect, and with the exception of a few of the 
well domesticated species, maintain a guarded attitude. 
An illustration of this is a blackbird that has gradually ac¬ 
quired trustful habits and builds its nest in the garden or 
shrubbery in sight of the friends who have fed and protected 
it during the winter weather. So little does it fear them 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. 
But by and by a neighbor’s egg-hunting boy creeps in, dis¬ 
covers the nest, pulls it down and removes the eggs. The bird 
finds its confidence betrayed; had it suspected the boy’s evil in¬ 
tentions it would have made an outcry at his approach as at 
the appearance of a prowling cat, and the nest would perhaps 
have been saved. The result of such an occurrence is likely to 
be the return to the usual suspicious attitude of birds in the 
wild state. In the last analysis, birds and men are very much 
alike in that they form their opinions of us not so much by 
what we say as by what we do. So, if birds and animals could 
but speak out they might say, “Your actions are the only lan¬ 
guage we understand.” 
They are quick to discriminate between protectors and per¬ 
secutors, and will soon begin to reciprocate the friendly ad¬ 
vances of those who leave food for them and show a desire to 
approach them. They do not view the face only, but the entire 
form, and a change of clothing often renders it difficult for 
them to distinguish the individuals they know and trust from 
