Fear in Birds 



221 



call -note of any passing bird as to their own mother's voice, but 

 a more curious spectacle may be witnessed when a fledgling of 

 one of our common species, like the Baltimore Oriole, climbs 

 to the top of its 

 nest. All the 

 others immedi- 

 ately salute it as 

 if it were an old 

 bird, and with 

 open mouths 

 beg vainly to be 

 fed. If a young 

 bird within a 

 day of taking 

 flight cannot 

 distinguish one 

 of its brothers 

 from its mother, 

 it can hardly be 

 expected to 

 "know a hawk 

 from a hand- 

 saw,'' or an 

 enemy from a 

 friend. 



After taking 

 flight, the young 

 of altricial birds 

 are fed by one 

 or both parents 

 for a period of 

 days or weeks, 



and much is quickly learned by imitation and individual ex- 

 perience. Their ingrained sense of fear becomes in the course 

 of time gradually specialized in certain directions. Fear of 

 man, guns, hawks, snakes, cats, and the various agents of de- 

 struction with which each species must contend in the course 



Fig. 134. Young Cowbird on 

 which it was reared. 



t of Magnolia Warble 



