Lake George 



about five days they nearly filled the nest, and I 

 almost feared there was a miscalculation on the 

 part of the architect. 



It is wonderful how rapidly berries, bugs, etc. , 

 are converted into avian tissue. Yet in this 

 rapid growth there is a striking resemblance to 

 the quick vernation of the vegetable kingdom 

 in spring. For as, in the latter case, the foli- 

 age is, as it were, fed from material already 

 stored up in the plant in the preceding autumn, 

 so the chick, by the process of regurgitation 

 that seems to be more or less common in fowls, 

 finds a reservoir of partially digested food in 

 the stomach of the parent bird, which can be 

 at once assimilated ; and thus the chick resem- 

 bles the bud that suddenly expands by simply 

 appropriating nature's store of prepared vegeta- 

 ble tissue. It seems as if this were nature's de- 

 vice for lessening the dangers of nidification, 

 by hastening the growth of the chick, and mak- 

 ing it as quickly as possible self-protecting. 



On the morning of the thirteenth day one 

 vigorous and ambitious youngster crept out on 

 to a branch ; but the responsibilities of life 

 looked too onerous, and he crept back again. 

 On the next day three of them bade farewell 

 to their birthplace, and perched on different 

 223 



