190 IN BIRD LAND. 
I have myself observed such a performance in the 
case of the wood-pewee, as described in the chapter 
on “ Midsummer Melodies.’’ First attempts are 
crude and awkward, although the tones may be very 
fine. It requires frequent drill to bring the vocal 
organs under perfect control, just as is the case with 
human singers. If you have listened to the squeak- 
ing, chattering, twittering medley of young song- 
sparrows, you have realized how much practice 
is necessary before the would-be vocalists will be 
able to execute the wonderful trills of which they 
are master when they graduate from the musical 
conservatory. 
I must tell you of a little bird high-school class 
over which I once assumed charge. It consisted 
of three wood-thrushes, two bluebirds, and a 
brown thrasher, all of which were taken from the 
nest before they were ready to fly, and confined in 
a large wire cage. Very soon they learned to take 
food from my hand. But in many things that are 
essential to bird life and bird weal they had no 
tutors and no drill-masters, and therefore had to 
learn them as best they could. Yet it was surpris- 
ing how soon they gained proficiency. Without a 
single copy from adult birds, all of them were able 
to fly about from perch to perch in a few days. It 
was not more than a week before they began to pick 
in an awkward way, but after more than five weeks 
they would still open their mouths and take food 
from the hand. ‘The mechanical act of eating was 
something they had to learn by slow degrees. While 
