16 A DISMAL FAILURE. 



ing up on the clothes-line, banging awkwardly 

 against the house, and in every way showing 

 ignorance and youth. I studied one for a long 

 time as he balanced himself on the clothes-line 

 and looked off at the antics of his brothers 

 trying to learn the hovering. One of the par- 

 ents flew out over the tall flowers, poising him- 

 self gracefully, his body held perfectly erect, 

 legs half drawn up, turning his head this way 

 and that, hanging thus in the air several sec- 

 onds in one spot, then suddenly darting off to 

 another like a humming-bird. The little ones 

 in a row close together on a low branch of a 

 shrub, looked on, and in a moment two or three 

 sallied out and tried the same movement. 

 They could fly well enough, but when they 

 tried to pause on wing the failure was disas- 

 trous. Some tumbled out of sight into the 

 daisies, others recovered themselves with vio- 

 lent efforts and returned hastily to the perch, 

 complaining loudly. Then the parents brought 

 food, and this went on for some time, while all 

 the time the air was full of gentle twitters 

 and calls, much baby-talk, and a little paren- 

 tal instruction no doubt. 



A delightful field of work awaits the young 

 naturalist of to-day. Our predecessors have 

 devoted their energies to classifying and arrang- 

 ing. They have dissected and weighed and 



