PART IV. -THE YOUNG BIRD. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE NESTLING. 



THE egg-shell is burst open; the prisoner of three 

 weeks, or a fortnight, or a month, or even longer, 

 if it belongs to the swan family, has effected its 

 deliverance, and commences life. With what joy to 

 its parent, when one only has shared the toil of 

 incubation, or to both, when both bisds have by 

 turns tended the development of their offspring 

 in the act of incubation ! In contradiction to 

 what is generally believed with regard to the ex- 

 trication of the chick, Audubon states that he 

 has seen the mother rendering help to its emer- 

 gence. Since we do not remember to have met 

 with any similar statement, we shall quote Audu- 

 bon's words from his own volume. He says:* 

 * Audubon's Ornithological Biography, vol. i. p. 7. 



