Bird- Lore 



fear instinct as soon as they have dried off and are able to run. With altricial 

 young, on the other hand, it is not until they are developing their feathers, a 

 few days prior to leaving the nest, that they crouch and try to hide at one's 

 approach. Before that time, they stretch up their necks and open their mouths 

 for food just as freely for a human being as for their parents. At about the 

 same time the young birds apparently come to a realization of the meaning of 



the different calls of their 

 parents and crouch for 

 one note, stretch up their 

 necks at another, or re- 

 main passive for a third. 

 Anyone at all familiar 

 with poultry knows of the 

 various calls of the old hen 

 to her chicks. Her vocab- 

 ulary is not extensive but 

 no one would deny the fact 

 that she has a method of 

 conveying many different 

 instructions to her chicks. 

 They all crouch when she 

 cries 'hawk,' they scatter 

 when she cries 'cat,' and 

 they rush to her when she 

 cries 'food,' etc. Other 

 birds are just the same 

 but it takes a discerning 

 ear to catch the differences 

 in notes, and it is impos- 

 sible to put them in print. 

 Distress calls are usually 

 recognized by all species 

 of birds and they fly to the 

 scene of trouble. Whether 

 the other notes are under- 

 stood by all species, or 

 whether each species has 

 its private language, we 

 have no very good way of knowing. It is a study that will take a refinement 

 of observation that we have not yet attained, and there is no need of theor- 

 izing here upon a subject for which we have so few facts. 



It is said that the call-notes of a bird are instinctive and that its song is 

 learned by imitation, but the latter fact has not been entirely proved. Cer- 



MOST BIRDS PLACE THE FOOD FAR DOWN IX THE 



THROATS OF THE YOUNG, AS SHOWN WITH THE 



RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 



