162 BIRDS 



However, they paused just long enough on the threshold 

 to have their pictures taken. (Fig, 82.) 



The time was now ripe for their first flight, as the 

 nestlings were fully fledged. After much scolding and 

 persuasion from the female, the young birds pitched 

 headlong into the cattails, toward the boggy earth, but 

 caught with each foot an upright stem and with straddled 

 legs held on for dear life, climbing from stem to stem, 

 until they reached a dead willow twig, a safe perch ; there 

 they posed for their last picture. 



When I bade this family adieu I wished them a happy 

 return to the place of their birth. 



