Tame Birds
Some men have a gift for inspiring confidence in animals and birds. 1 manage fairly well with horses and dogs, but birds have never shown any inclination to trust me although I once looked after a hundred canaries. On a brief visit to the north I crossed Windermere on the ferry, and noted a pair of chaffinches that made the trip with us. They were as tame as robins and hopped along the rail close to the engineer's cabin. As the ferry drew in to the other side I remarked on the tame- ness of these birds to the man in charge. He smiled and said he was never without them, even on such a day as this one, when all the beauty of the lake was obscured in rain. The chaffinches were tame, he agreed, at times far too tame. When he opened his sandwich-box they were in at the contents as soon as he had helped himself. He had to scare them off continually. I don't think it made much impression when I suggested he could shut the box, for, frOm what he said, I gathered he was one of those people towards whom birds show no fear, and he was as attached to his passengers as they were to him.
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