DISTURBANCE IN THE NEST. 335 



into whose proper home it has been intruded by 

 its careless parent. 



From an early age the future disposition of the 

 nestling may be confidently predicted. Some are 

 placid, docile, gentle, and easily tamed, while the 

 qualities of others are the very reverse of these. 

 The pilated woodpecker has been described by 

 Audubon as exhibiting a character, even from the 

 nestling state, of untameable wildness and even 

 fierceness. When the young of a nest which had 

 been watched were sufficiently old to be removed 

 with safety, they were taken out, in order to 

 enable Audubon to observe their habits in con- 

 finement. It was exceedingly difficult to entice 

 these birds to open their bill in order to feed them. 

 They were sullen and morose ; and, in fact, three 

 of them died in a few days. But the others, having 

 been fed on grasshoppers thrust into their mouths 

 by force, were reared. 



That such should really prove to be the case 

 that the future character and habits of the bird 

 thus begin to show themselves even in the nest- 

 ling, is only what was to be expected. And that 

 the natural disposition of some nestlings should 

 differ from that of others according to the species 





