WILD LIFE ABOUT MY CABIN 



a wiser or more experienced pair made the attempt 

 again, and succeeded. They placed the nest against 

 the rafter where it joins the plate; they used mud 

 from the start to level up with and to hold the first 

 twigs and straws, and had soon completed a firm, 

 shapely structure. When the young were about 

 ready to fly, it was interesting to note that there 

 was apparently an older and a younger, as in most 

 families. One bird was more advanced than any of 

 the others. Had the parent birds intentionally stim- 

 ulated it with extra quantities of food, so as to be 

 able to launch their offspring into the world one 

 at a time ? At any rate, one of the birds was ready 

 to leave the nest a day and a half before any of the 

 others. I happened to be looking at it when the first 

 impulse to get outside the nest seemed to seize it. Its 

 parents were encouraging it with calls and assur- 

 ances from some rocks a few yards away. It an- 

 swered their calls in vigorous, strident tones. Then 

 it chmbed over the edge of the nest upon the plate, 

 took a few steps forward, then a few more, till it was 

 a yard from the nest and near the end of the tim- 

 ber, and could look off into free space. Its parents 

 apparently shouted, "Come on!" But its courage 

 was not quite equal to the leap; it looked around, 

 and seeing how far it was from home, scampered 

 back to the nest, and climbed into it like a fright- 

 ened child. It had made its first journey into the 

 world, but the home tie had brought it quickly back. 



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