Impressions 



perturbation beyond description. They were 

 simply an annoyance when I endeavored to 

 make note of the released nestlings. These I 

 classed, at the time, as climbers and flutterers, 

 and interest centred on the former, as their 

 success in clambering about trees and in tangles 

 of green brier was quite marked. I saw noth- 

 ing that could be called a mishap, but the flut- 

 terers often came to the ground and had endless 

 difficulties in getting off it. They failed to 

 judge of position and fell short or over-flew the 

 perch they strove to reach. One young bird, 

 having no faith in his wings, had marked scan- 

 sorial skill, and I think more than once used his 

 beak as a third means of support; that is, it 

 climbed with its feet, balanced itself with its 

 wings and pulled itself up by holding to a twig 

 with its beak. So, at least, it appeared to me, 

 but I will not be positive. 



All the while the parent birds kept up an in- 

 cessant chatter. The young appeared not to 

 pay any attention to it and so it was, to me, a 

 waste of energy; and should it not, theoret- 

 ically, be dangerous? Such a commotion at- 

 tracted my attention and so it should have 

 called hither hawks, owls, crows, weasels and 



83 



