A Tame Tit We are all so fond of birds
in these days (and not in the Tom Tulliver sense) that we may feel surprised at their want of tameness. Not one naturalist in a hundred has ever touched a live bird or fed it by hand. Yet now and again birds will lose all fear of a man or woman. There is a gardener, of whom I hear, whose activities are chiefly within an old walled garden in Sussex. The place is a sanctuary beloved of a good many birds, including many goldfinches ; and they show little alarm at the gardener, but the entire casting out of fear has been achieved only by a blue tit, which on occasion has perched on the gardener's hat and 'even allowed itself to be stroked. We ought to be careful about the colour of our hats. It was, I think, W. H. Hudson who heard small birds cursing a gardener as they will curse an enemy ; and he came to the conclusion that the colour of his cap too closely resembled a tabby cat. The bird watcher should, of course, be careful to conceal his hands.
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