Natural History 443 



down and are open-eyed and alert, although they remain in the 

 nest at first and are wholly dependent on their parents for food. 



Transporting the Young 



We have an illustration of how some birds make use of 

 their wits in the way they transport their young. In this con- 

 nection Lord Grey recently told how he watched a Wood-Duck 

 (Carolina) whose nest was a hole in a tree 21 feet from the 

 ground and 300 yards from the water. "Presently the duck 

 flew down from the hole into the grass, and began calling; then 

 one by one the little ducklings came to the edge of the hole and 

 fell to the ground. When measured the nest was found to be 

 2 feet below the hole. For the newly hatched birds to climb that 

 distance, to fall 21 feet, and then follow their mother 300 yards 

 to the water was, I think, a tremendous tribute to the energy of 

 nature." 



The female woodcock, when threatened with danger, is 

 known to transport her young, one at a time, to another place. 

 She does so by carrying the young ones with her feet, holding 

 them in her claws, or pressed between her thighs. It is also said 

 that where she nests at a distance from the feeding-ground, she 

 will carry her young to and fro in the morning and evening. 



15 

 The Study of Birds' Eggs 



We cannot here discuss fully the eggs of birds. A wealth 

 of matter for speculation lies in the why and wherefore of size 

 and shape, of texture and colour, and of the numbers forming 

 a clutch. All these characters show wide limits of difference, 

 but on the whole they remain very constant and characteristic 

 for any one species. 



Size and Shape of Eggs 



The size of the individual egg is variable, apart from the 

 question of due proportion to the size of the parent bird con- 



