BIRDS. 153 



one of the old birds came to the nest, holding its long wings out 

 over the platform a moment in alighting. As if to draw the young, 

 it stayed but a moment, and when it had gone the urge to follow 

 came irresistibly to the more courageous of the two brothers. Stand- 

 ing on the edge of the ne^t, he raised his wings above it. As he 

 held them lifted there came a beautiful moment when the wind 

 seemed to fill his sails. All the possibilities and joy of flight were 

 in that tremulous moment. Then, with the courage and strength 

 of a creature borir to fly, his feet loosened and up he rose above the 

 nest ! Thrilled b}- the poetry of the first flight, I sat spellbound 

 watching him. Would he drop back? No; he had tasted freedom 

 and j)ower. But the wind blew hard in his face, and he was borne 

 back behind the nest tree. Rallying, perhaps in a lull, he flew 

 ahead again. But what should he do out in this limitless space? 

 For a few moments he drifted around aimlessly, and then, quite 

 naturally, having alwaj's lived in a tree top, flew down over a spruce 

 spire and, with much flapping of wings and evident perturbation, 

 finally let his feet down and got his balance. 



His mother meanwhile had flown to the nest, from which she 

 watched the vagaries of his first flight; but when he lit she flew 

 to the top of a neighboring spire closer by. After an interval, when 

 the two sat like statues on the two si)ires, the courageous son again 

 sallied forth, this time wandering back almost to the nest and then 

 over near his 2:>arent, where he tried to light on a slender, unstable 

 spire. Greatly scared, he flapped his wings, and cried in his weak, 

 young voice for a long time before he could accomplish it ; and no 

 sooner was he settled than the wind came and almost upset his bal- 

 ance, making him flutter distractedly — alas for the saints on the 

 point of a needle ! The parent, who was on a large stable stub, gave 

 herself a shake that would have precipitated the youngster, and 

 merely looked about with an air of accustomed power. Then, watch- 

 ing her wind-blown wabbling son, she leaned over, looking as if 

 she wanted to help, and — whether with deliberate intent or not — 

 flew otf and let him take her stable perch. This Avas such an im- 

 provement that after a time the courageous one actually leaned back 

 and preened himself, as if he had stood on spires all his days. Get- 

 ting tired, he tried sitting down on his perch, but spires and wide- 

 platformed nests were quite a different matter, and his weary legs 

 wabbled so that he was forced to take wing, flying and circling, till 

 he finally made his way back to the nest. With outspread wings he 

 hovered over it, legs dangling, but at last let himself down — home 

 again for a good rest. 



AATien the timid brother finally got up his courage to leave the 

 nest, he, too, wanted the solid perch, but succeeded only so far as to 

 51140°— IS 13 



