36 THE FIRST BOOK OF BIRDS 
over at the raspberries, and reached out and 
tried to get hold of one. After trying three or 
four times, and nearly pitching off his perch, he 
did reach one. Then how proud he was! 
The father stayed away an hour or more, and 
before he came back that young woodpecker 
had learned to help himself very well; though 
the minute his father came, he began to flutter 
his wings and beg to be fed, as if he was half 
starved. 
A lady, who fed the wild birds on her window 
sill for many years, and watched their ways, says 
she often saw the old birds teaching their little 
ones. They showed them where the food was 
to be found, and, she says, regularly taught 
them the art of eating. 
Then she saw them taught to be afraid of 
people, not to come too near her. And once she 
saw an old bird showing a young one how to 
gather twigs for nest-building. The young one 
looked on a while, and then tried hard to do it 
himself, but could not get off a single twig. 
Best of all, the same lady heard an old robin 
giving a music lesson. The teacher would sing 
a few notes and then stop, while the pupil tried 
to copy them. He had a weak, babyish sort of 
voice, and did not succeed very well at first. 
I have heard several birds at their music les- 
sons. 

