I go IN BIRD LAND. 



I have myself observed such a performance in the 

 case of the wood-pewee, as described in the chapter 

 on " Midsummer Melodies.'' First attempts are 

 crude and awkward, although the tones may be very 

 fine. It requires frequent drill to bring the vocal 

 organs under perfect control, just as is the case with 

 human singers. If you have listened to the squeak- 

 ing, chattering, twittering medley of young song- 

 sparrows, you have realized how much practice 

 is necessary before the would-be vocahsts will be 

 able to execute the wonderful trills of which they 

 are master when they graduate from the musical 

 conservatory. 



I must tell you of a little bird high-school class 

 over which I once assumed charge. It consisted 

 of three wood-thrushes, two bluebirds, and a 

 brown thrasher, all of which were taken from the 

 nest before they were ready to fly, and confined in 

 a large wire cage. Very soon they learned to take 

 food from my hand. But in many things that are 

 essential to bird fife and bird weal they had no 

 tutors and no drill-masters, and therefore had to 

 learn them as best they could. Yet if was surpris- 

 ing how soon they gained proficiency. Without a 

 single copy from adult birds, all of them were able 

 to fly about from perch to perch in a few days. It 

 was not more than a week before they began to pick 

 in an awkward way, but after more than five weeks 

 they would still open their mouths and take food 

 from the hand. The mechanical act of eating was 

 something they had to learn by slow degrees. While 



