And what is the mental attitude of every Rocky Mountain black or grizzly bear outside of the Yellowstone Park? It is colossal suspicion of man, perpetual fear, and a clean pair of heels the moment man-scent or man-sight proclaims the proximity of the Arch Enemy of Wild Creatures. And yet there are one or two men who tell the American public that wild animals do not think, that they do not reason, and are governed only by "instinct"!
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!"
Taming Wild Birds. —As incontestable proof of the receptive faculties of birds, I will cite the taming of wild birds in the open, by friendly advances. There are hundreds, aye, thousands, of men, women, boys and girls who could give interesting and valuable personal testimony on this point.
My friend J. Alden Loring (one of the naturalists of the Roosevelt African Expedition), is an ardent lover of wild birds and mammals. The taming of wild creatures in the open is one of his pastimes, and his results serve well to illustrate the marvelous readiness of our wild neighbors to become close friends with man when protected. I will quote from one of Mr. Loring's letters on this subject:
"Taming wild birds is a new field in nature study, and one never can tell what success he will have until he has experimented with different species. Some birds tame much more easily than others. On three or four occasions I have enticed a chickadee to my hand at the first attempt, while in other cases it has taken from fifteen minutes to a whole day.
"Chipping sparrows that frequent my doorway I have tamed in two days. A nuthatch required three hours before it would fly to my hand, although it took food from my stick the first time it was offered. When you find a bird on her nest, it is of course much easier to tame that individual than if you had to follow it about in the open, and wait for it to come within reach of a stick. By exercising extreme caution, and approaching inch by inch, I have climbed a tree to the nest of a yellow-throated vireo, and at the first attempt handed the bird a meal-worm with my fingers. At one time I had two house wrens, a yellow-throated vireo, a chipping sparrow and a flock of chickadees that would come to my hand."
SIX WILD CHIPMUNKS DINE WITH MR. LORING
It would be possible—and also delightful—to fill a volume with citations of evidence to illustrate the quick acceptance of man's protection by wild birds and mammals. Let me draw a few illustrations from my own wild neighbors.