APPEARANCE OF THE YOUNG. 323 



her that the crisis is over, and that her babe is 

 saved." 



Were we to look into the nest of an eagle at 

 the time when the young are just hatched, an 

 experiment of no little peril, in the experience of 

 any who have had the opportunity, and have 

 made the attempt, and contrast the young ones 

 newly-born with those of a barn-door fowl's nest 

 of a similar age, a most striking contrast would 

 present itself. None would say from their appear- 

 ance that the young of the eagle were likely to 

 be superior to the common chickens in point of 

 physical strength and courage. At present, the 

 young chickens, or ducklings, though having a 

 milder and more placid expression of face, are 

 decidedly the superiors to the young princes of 

 the feathered tribe. The latter are feeble, trem- 

 bling, naked, or nearly naked, and altogether 

 blind beings, the most helpless and dependent of 

 all creatures, and the least apparently able to 

 resist the severities of the life upon which they 

 have lately entered. The young chickens, on the 

 contrary, are very lively in a little while after 

 their emergence from the shell, are able to run 

 about, and, with an almost ludicrous attempt, they 



