410 LAND BIRDS 



is always surprisingly well lined and deeper than would 

 naturally be judged from the side view. Eggs are laid 

 in April most frequently, and, since incubation lasts nine- 

 teen or twenty days, the young usually make their ap- 

 pearance about the first of May. They are naked and 

 blind, of an ugly greenish hue, and very repulsive to 

 look at. Only one brood is raised in a season, and the 

 remaining summer months are devoted to the training of 

 these nestlings. At the end of two weeks they appear 

 at the edge of the nest, looking out over the sunny 

 slopes with unwinking blue eyes. From this time until 

 they leave, when three and a half weeks old, they are 

 very restless. Little wings are constantly stretched and 

 flapped, uncertain little legs are trained to balance the 

 heavy body, bills grow strong by tearing the food, and 

 before the day for venturing out into the great unfriendly 

 world has come, they have learned much. What yet 

 remains for them to learn the adults will teach them day 

 by day. Instinct plays a far smaller part in their cun- 

 ning than we have long been taught to believe, and even 

 in crow education it is the example of the adults that 

 teaches the helpless young what to do and how to do it. 

 Let anyone who doubts this course of training, or is in- 

 clined to consider that this opinion is founded on senti- 

 ment and not on science, watch the development of a 

 family of young crows. 



