364 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



scene can always be witnessed by throwing a little 

 hempseed into the cage where the young birds and 

 their parents are confined, when as soon as ever 

 the latter begins to feed, the young ones will be 

 immediately by their side importuning them for 

 a share. 



The subject of the food of the young having 

 been thus disposed of, we may proceed, in the 

 next place, to enter into some particulars con- 

 nected with their education and rearing. On this 

 point much depends upon the habits of the parents, 

 whose example teaches the young to act as they 

 themselves do in the pursuit of food, or in the 

 escape from danger. It is to be carefully acknow- 

 ledged, however, that that indefinable impulse 

 which we call instinct, and which is innate in 

 every creature, has generally more to do than has 

 parental influence in the instruction of the young 

 in their various actions ; and they are taught the 

 common things necessary for them to know, not 

 by their parents, but by Him who is the Creator 

 of every living thing, the Author of all nature, 

 and the Sovereign of the universe. This is 

 abundantly evidenced in the case of those young 

 birds which are hatched by artificial means. To 



