TRAINING OP YOUNG BIRDS. 171 



race did many of them dwell in the same district. 

 For which reason they hasten to drive away their 

 young at a certain age from their boundaries, and 

 then, if a scarcity of provision occur, the male and 

 female put one another to death. 



Another bird celebrated for instructing its young 

 is the stork. When the wings of the young storks 

 begin to grow, they are said to try their strength in 

 fluttering about the nest ; though it often happens 

 that, in this exercise, some of them fall and are un- 

 able to regain their place. When they first ven- 

 ture to commit themselves to the air, the mother 

 leads them in small circumvolutions about the nest, 

 whither she conducts them back, and about the end 

 of August, the young ones having acquired strength, 

 unite with the old ones for the purpose of migra- 

 tion. " When the young storks," says Bonnet, as if 

 speaking from observation, " begin to try their 

 wings, the mother fails not to watch over and con- 

 duct them. She exercises them by little and little 

 in short flights around the nest, to which she soon 

 conducts them again. She continues her attention 

 for a long time, and does not abandon them till 

 their education is completed." 



We are disposed, however, to look upon much 

 that has been written respecting parent birds in- 

 structing their young as merely fanciful ; and wheth- 

 er we are right in this may be readily verified by 

 observing and comparing facts of daily occurrence. 

 In the case of a brood of ducklings, for example, it 

 might be plausibly alleged that their parents taught 

 them to swim, because the mother may be seen 

 swimming before them as their leader, and the little 

 things all paddling after her, according to their 

 strength or their agility. But, in order to prove 

 this view to be correct, it would be indispensable 

 to show that the ducklings could not swim till 

 they were instructed by their mother, which clear- 

 ly appears not to be the case ; for a duckling, as 



