time, and didn't mind it so much, but 

 Jim was very cross and restless, for 

 the cage door was fastened and he bit 

 terly resented imprisonment. Alas! from 

 that time forth we never were to know 

 freedom again; from that time forth 

 we had to accustom ourselves to many, 

 many changes. 



About nine o'clock the door of the 

 room opened and in came a little girl, 

 followed by a little boy. Then more 

 little girls and boys, till I counted, as 

 well as I could, seventeen. All one 

 family? Oh, no, I'm not talking about 

 bird families now. As many as could 

 crowded about the cage and stared at 

 me with wide-open eyes. The cage 

 was on a low table so they could peep 

 into the nest. Oh, how frightened I 

 was. One little chap thrust his ringer 

 through the bars, and down I flew, 

 leaving my precious eggs exposed. 

 That was what they wanted, and oh 

 how they did exclaim! I went back 

 pretty soon, however, for I began to 

 understand that they did not mean to 

 harm me or the eggs either. How 

 ever, it was many days ere I got over 

 the feeling of fright when stared at by 

 so many eyes, but by the time the 

 birdlings were hatched out I had grown 

 quite used to it. Indeed I felt some 

 what proud of the interest those wee 

 tots took in my babies, my manner 

 of feeding them never failing to call 

 forth cries of wonder and praise. 



"She just chews up the seeds and 

 swallows 'em," said a little chap one 

 day, "then when the baby birds cry for 

 something to eat she brings it up and 

 stuffs it down their long throats with 

 her bill. My! it's ever so much bet 

 ter than a spoon." 



The teacher laughed and patted the 

 little fellow on the head. 



"That is your first lesson in nature- 

 study, Victor," said she, and then a 

 lady at the piano struck up a march 

 and off they all trooped two by two. 



"Where do you suppose we are?" 

 crossly said Jim, hopping excited y 

 from one perch to another, "it looks 

 like a lunatic asylum to me." 



Jim, as I have stated before, is a very 

 stupid bird. The words "lesson" and 

 "nature-study" held no meaning for 

 him. 



"It seems to me," I said, watching 

 the little tots marching with an observ 

 ing eye, "that we are in a kindergar 

 ten." 



"A kindergarten," echoed Jim, 

 "what's that?" 



"Why," I explained, "a school where 

 young children are taught to love 

 everything and everybody. Surely we 

 have nothing to fear." 



And so it turned out to be, a kinder 

 garten, in which, I am proud to say, for 

 purposes of nature-study I have raised 

 many and many a brood. 



WHY AND WHEREFORE OF THE COLORS OF BIRDS' EGGS- 



THE why and wherefore of the 

 colors of birds' eggs, says Er 

 nest Ingersoll, has been a fa 

 vorite theme for speculation, 

 from the quaint surmisings of Sir 

 Thomas Browne to the solemn guess 

 work of Shufeldt, in his ten "biological 

 laws explanatory of the variation in 

 color of the shells of the eggs in class 

 Aves."* Hewitson piously concludes 

 that the beauty of these elegant and 

 often exquisitely attractive objects is 

 intended for the delight of human 

 eyes; hence, as he says, eggs simply 

 white are put out of sight in holes! He 

 also sees in the larger number of eggs 

 laid by game-birds a provision by a 

 benevolent Providence for the joy of 



the sportsman and the delectation of 

 the epicure. Next comes a man who 

 assures us that the colors of eggs are 

 due to the influence of their respective 

 surroundings on the imagination of the 

 hen birds the old story of Jacob's 

 little trick on Laban in the matter of 

 young cattle. This school instances as 

 an example the red blotches prevalent 

 on the eggs of falcons, regarded by it 

 as a record of the bloody experiences 

 of the parents; but it does not explain 

 why the equally rapacious owls pro 

 duce pure white eggs, or the blood 

 thirsty skuas and shrikes ay greenish 

 ones. Other equally fallacious theo- 

 rizings might be noted. 



152 



