SOME FEATHERED BUILDERS 47 



and the note is altered. At once their mouths 

 close, their necks sink down, and in a few 

 seconds they are packed in one close heap. This 

 is what you will see when the young are in 

 this state. After they have got their feathers, 

 although not yet strong enough to fly, and they 

 still keep to the nest, the same note uttered 

 would cause them to tumble out of it in all 

 directions, for so are they trained. 



A volume might easily be written about 

 young fish that are hatched out in our rivers, 

 streams, and ponds. From the time they are 

 out in the water they have to look after them- 

 selves. How the countless shoals of tiny 

 creatures manage to get on is a mystery ; but 

 they do this, and they keep apart. I have 

 seen shoals of young carp, roach, gudgeon, and 

 perch, all in the same brook in various stages 

 of growth, each shoal in that part of the brook 

 best suited for it ; and about every two yards a 

 young pike would be seen, six or seven inches 

 in length, either by the side or at the end of 

 some weed, waiting to pouch some of the little 

 roach or gudgeons that might come by. At 

 the time I am thinking of, the water was pure, 

 and the weeds were green ; but fish- nurseries 

 are hard to find now, I am sorry to say. 



