. Birds through the year . od; and never discover that nuthatches exist; but ifa frame be fixed with wire or wood in front to hold the nutswithout hiding them it is odds that the nuthatches arrive-within a week. The better plan with all the shyer birds isat first to put the food in the places where they are mostlikely to be rather than where you wish them to be. Whenonce they have found food within your precincts the rest iseasy. They may be tempted nearer and nearer; or out ofthe obscure into the open with some ease. FEEDING BIRDS 299 Some birds baffle all attempts ; but among the untamablear
. Birds through the year . od; and never discover that nuthatches exist; but ifa frame be fixed with wire or wood in front to hold the nutswithout hiding them it is odds that the nuthatches arrive-within a week. The better plan with all the shyer birds isat first to put the food in the places where they are mostlikely to be rather than where you wish them to be. Whenonce they have found food within your precincts the rest iseasy. They may be tempted nearer and nearer; or out ofthe obscure into the open with some ease. FEEDING BIRDS 299 Some birds baffle all attempts ; but among the untamableare very few of our native birds or indeed our wintervisitors. The obstinate are the summer migrants ; and thetimidest of all perhaps is the wryneck. Among the easiestare game birds, and the partridge at any rate pays for hisfood ; he is delightful to watch. Some few birds are so persistent that they will learn totake food in ways entirely foreign to their nature. In asmall garden in the Midlands one starling, after weeks of. endeavour, learnt to take the fat meant for the tits. Hisdiscovery came by a sort of accident. He perched on theend of the bar where hung the suspended fat, and after longgazing tried to manipulate the string. In doing so he halftumbled, so it seemed, but getting both claws on to thestring, slipped down, and found himself to his surprise safelylanded where he would be. On the following days he per-formed this acrobatic feat with increasing skill and ofdeliberate purpose. Later other starlings, observing thesuccess of the manoeuvre, followed the example; and inorder to save the fat for the proper feasters the string hadto be lengthened. 3oo AUTUMN AND WINTER In the same way robins will now and again learn to takea precarious stand on a swinging cocoa-nut; but they donot often repeat the attempt. A starling is of all birdsperhaps the most deliberate imitator ; imitative in his songsand sounds, imitative in all his ways. It is, for example, byno means uncommon
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirdspi, bookyear1922
