EARLY HABITS. 337 



vain employing every little art to call the wan- 

 derers to her side. The ducklings, however, are in 

 their proper element, and dabble on until, weary, 

 or wanting food or shelter, they return to the hen 

 and are led back to the nest. An anecdote has 

 been related of a hen which after rearing one brood 

 of ducklings and suffering intensely at their to her 

 unaccountable love for water, of her own accord led 

 down the next brood to the water in the expecta- 

 tion of their plunging into it as did the former one. 

 For two or three days the nestlings of the 

 smaller birds remain blind. About the third day 

 their eyes begin to unclose, and in a few days 

 are apparently as perfect as in the adult bird. 

 During this period it has been observed that the 

 nestlings lie irregularly in the nest. Just excluded 

 from the egg-shell, and that in a feeble and help- 

 less state, they lie without any order in their 

 cradle, and one or two are to be found scrambling 

 over the backs of the rest. Subsequently to this, 

 however, the nestlings having acquired more 

 strength and vigour, together with the function of 

 vision, they are arranged more regularly in the 

 nest. They now lie side by side each in its place 

 within the nest. The object of this appears to be 

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