BIRDS IN THEIR NESTS 



JUST as every Englishman is of opinion that his 

 house is his castle, so does every little bird resent 

 all attempts at prying into its private affairs in 

 the nest. For this reason we really know very 

 little of the home-life of birds. It is not that there are 

 no seekers after such knowledge. Practical ornithology 

 is a science that can boast of a very large number of 

 devotees. 



Many men spend the greater part of their life in 

 endeavouring to wrest from birds some of their secrets, 

 and such must admit that the results they obtain are as 

 a rule totally disproportionate to the magnitude of the 

 efforts. At present we know only the vague generalities 

 of bird life. 



We know that the hen lays eggs ; that she, with or 

 without the help of the cock, as the case may be, in- 

 cubates these eggs ; that the young, which are at first 

 naked, are fed and brooded until they are ready to 

 leave the nest, when they are coaxed forth by the 

 parents, who hold out tempting morsels of food to them. 

 But these are mere generalities. Our ignorance of de- 

 tails is very great. 



The nestsof most passerine birds are scrupulously clean. 

 Young birds have enormous appetites, and much of the 

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