EXEMPLARY CLEANLINESS. 339 



While the attention of the parents to the nest- 

 lings will come more properly under our immediate 

 notice, in the next chapter, yet it is not out of 

 place to make allusion here to another evidence of 

 the extreme cleanliness of small birds. The nest- 

 lings immediately on being fed are in the habit of 

 ejecting the excrementitious matter. This is tech- 

 nically called "muting." But since such sub- 

 stances unless protected would speedily render 

 the nest a loathsome place of abode, they are 

 enveloped in a fine pellicle, which prevents this 

 occurrence. This, however, is not all, for the 

 parent birds immediately remove all such mat- 

 ters, and carry them to a distance from the nest. 

 In this manner the perfect cleanliness of the 

 nestlings and of their pretty abode is ensured. 

 The nest of the song-sparrow of America is 

 described to be a miracle of neatness and order. 



Sometimes death takes place among the little 

 family. It is to be wished that more were known 

 about the diseases of the lower animals, birds 

 included. Disease, however, is not confined in its 

 attacks to the adult bird. Previous to the time 

 when the full coat of feathers succeeds to the thin 

 down with which many nestlings are at first 



