The Bird that Whips Poor Will 



r 



stories, although recent confirmation of them is 

 lacking. 



The fledglings are not born naked, as are 

 those of most small birds, but clothed with a 

 yellowish down so near the color of the dead 

 leaves on which they lie as almost to defy search, 

 ' and they remain absolutely quiet. 



Now this rigidity and silence, as a measure 

 of safety in these infant birds, must be purely 

 instinctive, for they are characteristic of the 

 very youngest, who could not have learned the 

 trick from their parents. Why does not the 

 terror that causes the mother to rush away 

 communicate itself to them as an impulse to 

 flutter away also ? And why do not they answer 

 her anxious duckings? Instead of this, they 

 lie close and dumb, and when at last you find 

 one and take it up it will squat in the palm of 

 your hand as motionless as if paralyzed. The 

 fledglings of tree-nesting birds do not behave 

 in that way: they must be well-grown before 

 they will show either fear or caution at your 

 approach, and, in spite of the warnings of their 

 agonized mother, will cry just as loudly when 

 +$ 181 +> 



