230 Passing of the Flocks [FIRST WEEK 



save for this attention), who greedily devours it without 

 so much as a wing flutter of thanks. 



Two courses are open to the young birds who have 

 been so fortunate as to escape the dangers of nestlinghood. 

 They may unite in neighbourly flocks with others of their 

 kind, as do the blackbirds of the marshes; or they may 

 wander off by themselves, never going very far from their 

 summer home, but perching alone each night in the thick 

 foliage of some sheltering bush. 



How wonderfully the little fellow adapts himself to the 

 radical and sudden change in his life! Before this, his 

 world has been a warm, soft-lined nest, with ever anxious 

 parents to shelter him from rain and cold, or to stand 

 with half-spread wings between him and the burning rays 

 of the sun. He has only to open his mouth and call for 

 food and a supply of the choicest morsels appears and is 

 shoved far down his throat. If danger threatens, both 

 parents are ready to fight to the last, or even willing to 

 give their lives to protect him. Little wonder is it that 

 the young birds are loth to leave; we can sympathise 

 heartily with the last weaker brother, whose feet cling 

 convulsively to the nest, who begs piteously for ' just one 

 more caterpillar!' But the mother bird is inexorable and 

 stands a little way out of reach with the juiciest morsel 

 she can find. Once out, the young bird never returns. 

 Even if we catch the little chap before he finishes his first 

 flight and replace him, the magic spell of home is broken, 

 and he is out again the instant our hand frees him. 



What a change the first night brings! Yet with un- 

 failing instinct he squats on some twig, fluffs up his feathers, 



