PHAS&S OF BIRD LIFE. 185 



after the cavity had been made and the eggs de- 

 posited, thus blasting the hopes of the kingfishers. 

 However, they had not become despondent, for, 

 later in the season, they burrowed a hole for an 

 underground nursery in another part of the bank. 



III. 



BIRD HIGH SCHOOLS. 



It is not to be supposed that there is a regularly 

 graded system of instruction in the school-life of 

 the birds. There may be method in their learning, 

 but it would be difficult to state positively just where 

 the primary, grammar, high-school, and college grades, 

 merge into one another, or when diplomas of effi- 

 ciency are granted, if granted at all. But that there 

 is something of a system of pedagogy among birds, 

 and that the juniors do receive instruction from their 

 seniors, no observer of feathered life can doubt for 

 a moment. In the systems of human instruction 

 the child-life of the young learner usually ends with 

 his high-school course ; he then stands at the thresh- 

 old of young manhood, ready to do a good deal of 

 wrestling with his problems on his own account. 

 Taking that fact as our cue, we should say that the 

 high-school instruction of the youthful bird begins 

 when he leaves the nest, and ends when he is able 

 to fly with dexterity, and provide for his own sup- 

 port, at least in the main. It is not probable that 

 the lecture system prevails in the bird community. 



