6o STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 



leave the nest, and the old birds entice them, or even push them out. And a 

 young bird may be seen cHnging to the upper part of a window by its feet 

 and tail, and the parents feed it in this position. 



It is amusing to watch the martin building her nest. She plants her tail 

 against the wall, and then deposits the mud she has brought in her bill, 

 like a skilful workman, allowing it to drop into the crevices of yesterday's 

 work. Sometimes she stops to retouch the whole, and make it look 

 smoother. Every time she alights on the nest, she makes a twittering sound ; 

 and if the weather is hot, she will now and then take a splash in the pool 

 to refresh herself She has to provide herself M'ith food, and that takes up a 

 little time ; and often she has to wait until the clay gets dry, before she puts 

 on any more. 



In bad weather you see nothing of her, for she never attempts to go on 

 with her work. But when the rain is over, out she comes again, and proceeds 

 with the building. 



The parent birds will feed their young ones as many as twenty-two times 

 in half an hour. Sometimes they cling to the entrance of the nest, and some- 

 times they go in. The young one whose turn it is to be fed often sits near 

 the entrance to be ready, and if a morsel remains on its bill, the others snap 

 it up. After a time the parent birds enter on a new series of duties. The 

 young ones are fat and strong, and able to leave the nest, but they are rather 

 afraid. They do not quite know the power of their own wings, and how 

 safely they will be borne up by them. They open and shut them for a long 

 time, as if wishing but fearing to launch on that wide open region in which 

 their parents dart and skim. 



One little bird, bolder than the rest, summons all its courage, and springs 

 into the air. The parents welcome it with delight, and all day they sport 

 about among the tree-tops, taking short flights, and feeding and tending the 

 young ones with the utmost affection. 



Once a very pretty sight was witnessed, and one that reminds us of a 

 mother coaxing her child to walk by holding out a sweetmeat. 



The old bird came to the nest with a fly in his bill, and held it at a little 

 distance, as much as to say, " If you mean to have it, you must fly." 



The little martins tried to come out, but did not succeed very cleverly, 

 and nearly tumbled over. A minute after, the mother bird came back with 

 a fly in her bill, and tried the same experiment. But the little ones were 



