070 EDUCATION. 



has but to open its bill. With the duck, this education or training 

 is more complex. I observed one summer, on a lake in Normandy, 

 a duck, followed by her brood, giving them their first lesson. The 

 nurslings, riotous and greedy, asked but for food. The mother, yield- 

 ing to their cries, plunged to the bottom of the water, reappearing 

 with some small worm or little fish, which she distributed impartially, 

 never giving twice in succession to the same duckling ! 



In this picture the most touching figure was the mother, whose 

 stomach undoubtedly was also craving, but who retained nothing for 

 herself, and seemed happy in the sacrifice. Her visible desire was to 

 accustom her family to do as she did, to dive under the water in- 

 trepidly to seize their prey. With a voice almost gentle, she implored 

 this action of courageous confidence. I had the happiness of seeing 

 the little ones plunge in, one after another, to the depth of the black 

 abyss. Their education was just on the eve of completion. 



This is but a simple training, and for one of the inferior vocations. 

 There remains to speak of that of the arts: of the art of flight, the 

 art of song, the art of architecture. Nothing is more complex than 

 the education of certain singing birds. The perseverance of the 

 father, the docility of the young, are worthy of all admiration. 



And this education extends beyond the family-circle. The night- 

 ingales, the chaffinches, while still young or unskilful, know how to 

 listen to, and profit by, the superior bird which has been allotted to 

 them as their instructor. In those Russian palaces where flourishes 

 the noble Oriental partiality for the bulbul's song, you see everywhere 

 these singing-schools. The master nightingale, in his cage suspended 

 in the centre of a saloon, has his scholars ranged around him in their 

 respective cages. A certain sum per hour is paid for each bird 

 brought here to learn his lesson. Before the master sings they chatter 

 and gossip among themselves, salute and recognize one another. But 

 as soon as the mighty teacher, with one imperious note, like that of 

 a sonorous steel bell, has imposed silence, you see them listen with a 

 sensible deference, then timidly repeat the strain. The master com- 

 placently returns to the principal passages, corrects, and gently sets 



