BIRDS IN THE NURSERY 95 



defended from enemies, to be warmed up 

 every now and then under her feathers, and 

 to be " brooded " in this way at night, when 

 the air is cold. 



But young pigeons and canaries are of a 

 quite different type ; they are hatched blind 

 and nearly naked, and can only lie in the nest 

 and cry for food, so that they must not only 

 be almost constantly warmed, but every 

 bit they eat has to be found and brought 

 and given them by the old ones. All through 

 the bird world we shall find these two styles 

 of young birds, but we never see the two 

 sorts of youngsters in the same family of birds. 

 For instance, the guinea-fowl and turkey 

 and peafowl all belong to the same family 

 as the fowl, and their young ones are very 

 like young chickens ; it would be a wonder, 

 indeed, if a young peacock, for example, 

 were helpless like a young pigeon. On the 

 other hand, wherever we go, we shall find 

 different kinds of pigeons, but these always 

 have helpless young ones like our common 

 pigeons ; even the " squatter " pigeons of 

 Australia, which always live on the ground 

 and look very much like partridges, have 



