How does the poet convey self-sufficiency of nature in "A Bird came down the Walk—"?

The relevant part of the poem in answering this question comes in the penultimate stanza. The speaker cautiously offers the little bird a crumb to eat; but instead of gratefully accepting this nourishing morsel, the bird immediately spreads his little wings and flies off.

Up until that moment, the bird had been hopping about freely without a care in the world, behaving just as naturally as any of God's creatures. But when the speaker intrudes upon the scene, the bird's world is suddenly changed and disrupted. The speaker means him no harm, of course; on the contrary, she just wants to give him some food. But the bird's sudden departure, occasioned by the well-meaning offer of bread, highlights the self-sufficiency of nature in all its pristine glory. The bird, like nature itself, has no need of human intervention.

How does "A Bird came down the Walk—" respond to the statement "nature is self-sufficient"?

The poem "A Bird came down the Walk" by Emily Dickinson describes a chance outdoor encounter the poet has with a bird. At first, the bird does not notice the poet, and so it continues to perform as it normally would, but when Dickinson tries to feed it a crumb, the bird becomes startled and flies away.

This poem fulfills the statement that "nature is self-sufficient" in that it emphasizes the instinctual aspects of nature. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, instinct is "the way people or animals naturally react or behave, without having to think or learn about it." The bird's instincts allow it to be self-sufficient as it forages for food, finds water, and flees from presumed danger.

In "A Bird came down the Walk—," Dickinson brings out the instinctual self-sufficiency of the bird by describing it finding food by eating an angleworm, finding enough water from the dew upon the grass, regarding a beetle as non-threatening and so letting it pass by without alarm, and then looking all around for other potential dangers. Although the poet's intentions are benign, the bird instinctually perceives this huge unknown creature as a threat and, as a precaution flies off to safety. All of these details demonstrate the self-sufficiency of nature.