udes. There are many other varieties of the family, such as
the canvas-back which is so highly esteemed for its flesh, that would
likewise afford very interesting subjects for experiment.

The wading birds are characteristically very wild and range over a wide
field; yet the flamingoes, the herons, and their kindred could probably
be brought into at least as near an approach to reconciliation with man
as their relations the storks. The comfortable relations which have been
established between the last-named species and humankind in northern
Europe is probably in nowise due to the peculiarly tamable nature of the
bird, but rather to the fact that certain superstitious fancies on the
part of the featherless biped led him to protect the feathered visitor
of his roofs and chimneys. Should it be desirable to break up the habit
of migration in these or other birds which are now accustomed to range
up and down the meridians, there seems no reason to doubt that the
change could be accomplished with the same ease that it has been in the
case of the tamed geese and swans. Experience has shown that with these
forms, which probably have not been associated with men for more than
three or four thousand years, the migratory instinct, which appears one
of the strongest of motives, has utterly disappeared. Not only do they
no longer heed the cries of the wild birds of their kind as they fly
away on their annual journeys, but they have, through the changes in
form induced by their quiet life, lost the power to rise far above the
earth. They are even more effectively tamed than are their captors.

Owing to their singularly perfect protection against the cold, and also
perhaps to the quickness of their wits, birds are more readily
transferable from one clime to another than are any other animals. The
feathered tenants of our barnyards are, except perhaps the aquatic
species and the turkey, all from the tropical realm. Experiments with
various other wild forms go to show that there are very many other
tropical species which will prove to have an equal tolerance of high
latitudes. If this be true we may fairly look to the domestication of
the varied bird life of the equatorial regions for the enrichment of our
northern lands. Even when it may not be desirable to bring these species
to the state of complete subjugation they may be introduced on something
like the terms which have been given and accepted in the case of the
so-called English p