TRAINING OF YOUNG BIRDS. Li7s 
in our houses, are more under common observation 
than most wild birds, may readily be fancied to be 
seen instructing their young to fly. The whole 
family may have got out of the nest and have 
perched on the tiles, on a window-ledge, or on the 
projecting bricks of a neighbouring chimney, bask- 
ing themselves in the sunshine, and enjoying the 
freshness of the summer air; and the parents, in 
their exuberance of joy at having reared their young 
ones so far without accident, may be seen flitting 
about from one to another, and sometimes making 
short excursions to the nearest tree, as if to survey 
their young from a different point of view, chuck- 
ling all the while with buoyant delight, in tones 
which many observers would not hesitate to inter- 
pret as invitations to the little things to try their 
wings. We are more inclined, however, to con- 
sider the conduct of the parent birds on such occa- 
sions as simply expressive of pleasurable feeling ; 
and if an anxious movement or the tremulous tone 
of fear be heard to intermingle, it may usually, we 
think, be traced to the attempts made by the young 
birds to fly, the old ones naturally anticipating the 
possibility of danger, from the known weakness of 
wing, as well as the inexperience of the young ones, 
placed, as they usually are in such cases, at a con- 
siderable height. 
In the instance of impending danger or on the 
approach of an enemy, the parent birds eagerly ex- 
press their feelings of solicitude, though it is ques- 
tionable, we think, whether the cries they utter are 
meant or understood by the young as invitations to 
fly to a place of greater security. We have in this 
way observed, in the case of a brood of young gold- 
finches (Carduelis elegans, StepHens), perched on 
an apple-tree and chirruping in chorus, that, when 
the watchful parents warned them of our approach, 
they did not fly towards them for protection, but 
instantly ceased to chirrup, squatting close to the 
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