BABY PEWEES. 15 



why should they not ? He will soon be taught, 

 for even baby-birds have to be educated. 



We have assumed in our easy-going way 

 that birds " toil not " because they " do not 

 spin," because they have not surrounded them- 

 selves with a thousand artificial wants, as we 

 have. But the truth is that nobody can work 

 harder than a pair of robins, for example, with 

 four or five hungry mouths to fill, and every 

 mouthful to be hunted up as it is wanted. No 

 one would guess what an ever-yawning cavern 

 a baby robin's mouth is, till he has tried to 

 bring up a nestling himself. I once kept two 

 small boys busy several days at high wages, 

 digging worms for one young bird, and then I 

 believe he starved to death. 



The training of our winged neighbors is most 

 interesting, but so cautiously carried on that 

 we rarely see it, though we may often hear the 

 robin, oriole, whip-poor-will, and many others 

 receive instruction in singing. I have once or 

 twice surprised young birds at their lessons, as 

 for instance, a pewee family learning to hover 

 over the daisies, a beautiful operation of their 

 parents which I never tired of watching. I was 

 behind a blind when they came, a little flock 

 of five or six. They were very playful, and 

 kept near together, flying low over the grass, 

 alighting in a row on the edge of a pail, com* 



