CHAPTER II. 



EDUCATION AND REARING OF THE BIRD. 



ONE of the earliest wants of the bird in its nest- 

 ling state is food; and both in its collection and 

 its distribution to the expectant young, the parent 

 birds display an amount of affection, patience, and 

 diligence, unparalleled in the animal kingdom. It 

 is necessary to call to mind the fact, in consider- 

 ing this circumstance, and estimating the careful 

 anxieties of the parent, that the young of the 

 birds are entirely dependent upon the personal 

 activity and success of the parent in the search 

 after food. The young of mammiferous animals, 

 on the contrary, draw their subsistence entirely 

 from the parent, whose concern is thus limited to 

 providing food for her own necessities. The 

 bird has to satisfy the cravings of her own ap- 

 petite, and to supply in addition the often almost 

 insatiable mouths of a numerous family at home. 

 The exertion necessary for this is inconceivably 



