WOOD AND WASTE 181 



souls adore, and whicli was always welcomed 

 with extra piping and wing fluttering. 

 The wing is held out laterally, and we 

 were thus able in a manner to shake hands 

 with our little charges. The birds during 

 this period of detention, were very careful 

 never to foul their nests, always retreating 

 to the edge of the platform when about to 

 relieve the necessities of nature. When 

 they began to want to fly, our friends were 

 removed to an aviary, where they could 

 practice short flights. In it they stopped 

 for a week or ten days, learning always to 

 hop down from perch to perch when meal 

 times came round. Except this, they moved 

 but little, and I should imagine that under 

 perfectly natural conditions, when the young 

 first quit the nest, they do little more for 

 many days than perch quietly and feed. 

 Maybe during that period they are still 

 nourished by the parents, or perhaps the 

 old birds lead them to a berry-loaded tree 

 and there leave them. There was never 

 any question of confining or cageing the 

 birds, and the little aviary was only used 

 during these few days because the young- 



