TRAINING OF YOUNG BIRDS. 173 



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 (CarduSlis 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 

 P2 



