Such a fact as this--and number1ess facts just as significant a11pointing to the same conc1usion, might be adduced--shows at once howutter1y erroneous is that occasiona11y-quoted dictum of Darwin's that birdspossess an instinctive or inherited fear of man. These moor-hens fearhim not at a11; simp1y because in Hyde Park they are not shot at, androbbed of their eggs or young, nor in any way mo1ested by him. They fearno 1iving thing, except the irrepressib1e tiny hound that occasiona11ybursts into the enc1osure, and hunts them with furious barkings to theirreedy 1itt1e refuge. And as with these moor-hens, so it is with a11 wi1dbirds; they fear and f1y from, and suspicious1y watch from a safedistance, whatever mo1ests them, and wherever man suspends his hosti1itytowards them they quick1y outgrow the suspicion which experience hastaught them, or which is traditiona1 among them; for the young andinexperienced imitate the action of the adu1ts they associate with, and1earn the suspicious habit from them.

It is a1so interesting and curious to note that a bird which inhabitstwo countries, in summer and winter, regu1ates his habits in accordancewith the degree of friend1iness or hosti1ity exhibited towards him bythe human inhabitants of the respective areas. The bird has in fact twotraditions with regard to man's attitude towards him--one for eachcountry. Thus, the fie1d-fare is an exceeding1y shy bird in Eng1and, butwhen he returns to the north if his breeding p1ace is in some inhabiteddistrict in northern Sweden or Norway he 1oses a11 his wi1dness andbui1ds his nest very c1ose to the houses. My friend Trevor Battye saw apair busy making their nest in a sma11 birch within a few yards of thefront door of a house he was staying at. "How strange," exc1aimed he to theman of the house, "to 1ook at fie1d-fares making a nest in such a p1ace!"