1 86 IN BIRD LAND. 



or the method of class instruction now in vogue, or 

 that books and charts and blackboards are used ; 

 but the instruction is chiefly individual, and is carried 

 on mostly by example, coercion, and urgent appeal. 

 There is not an inexhaustible number of branches 

 to be pursued by the httle undergraduates in plumes ; 

 but their efforts at obtaining an education consist 

 chiefly in mastering three grand accompUshments, 

 — flying, feeding, and singing. 



If ever you have seen a bevy of young red-headed 

 woodpeckers, led by several of their elders, taking 

 their wing-exercises, choosing a certain tree in the 

 woods for a point of departure, and then sailing 

 around and around with loud cries of delight, you 

 must have concluded that it was a veritable class in 

 calisthenics. One seldom has an opportunity to 

 see young birds taking their first lessons in flight, 

 but it is worth one's time and patience to be present 

 at such a recitation. The parents set the example 

 by flying from the nest to a perch near by, and then 

 coax and scold their children to follow their ex- 

 ample. If the little learners hesitate, as they usually 

 do, their impatient teachers exclaim : " Why, just try it 

 once. You never will learn to fly any younger. If 

 you will only spread your wings, let go of the rim 

 of the nest, and venture out on the air, you will find 

 that it will bear you up. Don't be afraid." But 

 perhaps the pupils complain that it makes their 

 heads dizzy to look down from their awful height. 

 Then the teachers pooh-pooh at their fears, and cry 

 condescendingly, " The idea of being afraid ! Why, 



