62 BOMBAY DUCKS 



the flycatchers did not molest them. Their instinct 

 taught them that these mild birds would not harm their 

 young. But all crows, kites, and hawks that ventured 

 near were promptly mobbed. 



By the third day, the young birds had grown so big 

 that there was no room for them to lie side by side in 

 the nest. They lay jumbled together in a heap, of 

 which the summit was higher than the walls of the 

 nursery. By this time the tail and great wing-feathers 

 had begun to appear ; these, being in sheaths, made 

 their possessors look like miniature porcupines. 



Their conduct in the nest was unlike that of any 

 other young birds I have seen. As a rule, the moment 

 a parent arrives, up into the air go all the gaping 

 mouths, and there is quite a hullabaloo, each youngster 

 being afraid he will be forgotten ! 



When the parent fantail came to the nest there was 

 no clamour among the young birds, and only one of 

 the three mouths opened. The decorous conduct of 

 the young flycatchers is, probably, to be attributed to 

 the action of natural selection ; for, living as they do in 

 such an insecure nursery, the young birds would almost 

 certainly fall out if they were of restless disposition, or 

 if, when the parents came to the nest, they clamoured 

 violently for food. 



From the third to the sixth day the young birds did 

 not make any great visible progress. But from the 

 sixth day onwards they developed apace. On the 

 eighth day the white feathers on the eyebrow began to 

 show themselves, and on the tenth the young birds 

 looked quite presentable. The body was then covered 



