186 IN BIRD LAND. 
or the method of class instruction now in vogue, or 
that books and charts and blackboards are used ; 
but the instruction is chiefly individual, and is carried 
on mostly by example, coercion, and urgent appeal. 
There is not an inexhaustible number of branches 
to be pursued by the little undergraduates in plumes ; 
but their efforts at obtaining an education consist 
chiefly in mastering three grand accomplishments, 
— flying, feeding, and singing. 
If ever you have seen a bevy of young red-headed 
woodpeckers, led by several of their elders, taking 
their wing-exercises, choosing a certain tree in the 
woods for a point of departure, and then sailing 
around and around with loud cries of delight, you 
must have concluded that it was a veritable class in 
calisthenics. One seldom has an opportunity to 
see young birds taking their first lessons in flight, 
but it is worth one’s time and patience to be present 
at such a recitation. ‘The parents set the example 
by flying from the nest to a perch near by, and then 
coax and scold their children to follow their ex- 
ample. If the little learners hesitate, as they usually 
do, their impatient teachers exclaim : ‘‘ Why, just try it 
once. You never will learn to fly any younger. If 
you will only spread your wings, let go of the rim 
of the nest, and venture out on the air, you will find 
that it will bear you up. Don’t be afraid.’ But 
perhaps the pupils complain that it makes their 
heads dizzy to look down from their awful height. 
Then the teachers pooh-pooh at their fears, and cry 
condescendingly, ‘‘‘The idea of being afraid! Why, 
Se 
