78 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



of yellow wagtails, living in a nest close by, illus- 

 trates the extreme rapidity of mind development 

 in young birds. One day when I visited them, 

 although open-eyed and well advanced in feather 

 dress, they shot up their heads like jacks-in- 

 boxes, and opened their mouths in greedy re- 

 quest ; but the very next, although I had not 

 handled them, and am certain that no one else had 

 done so, they crouched low in the nest, and made 

 no sign, except one of anxiety to hide from me. 

 Such a complete reversion of mental attitude in 

 less than twenty-four hours is difficult to under- 

 stand when it is considered that I did absolutely 

 nothing calculated to form an object-lesson in 

 the dangerous. 



Although it is a well-known fact that many 

 members of the duck family lose their flight 

 feathers so rapidly during the moulting season 

 that they are unable to make use of their wings, 

 such a calamity rarely befalls any passerine bird. 

 One instance has, however, come within my 

 experience. Whilst staying with some friends in 

 the North of England, I had a perfectly plump 

 and healthy missel thrush brought to me, unable 

 to fly. Examination and experiment revealed the 

 interesting fact that the bird had lost such a 

 large number of quills from her right wing as to 

 unbalance her completely. 



It is by no means an uncommon thing for a 



