70 YOUNG BIRDS. 



Among some species both sexes share equally the task 

 of incubation. In others, tlie female is longer on the 

 nest, the male taking her place during a short period each 

 day while she is feeding. Less frequently the female is 

 not at all assisted by her mate, and in some cases — Os- 

 triches, Emus, Phalaropes, and a few others — the male 

 alone incubates. 



The Young. — The care of the young and their men- 

 tal and physical development afford us unequaled oppor- 

 tunities for the study of bird character. We may now 

 become acquainted not only with the species but with 

 individual birds, and at a time when the greatest demands 

 are made upon their intelligence. 



We may see the seed-eaters gathering insects and per- 

 haps beating them into a pulp before giving them to their 

 nestlings : or we may learn how the Doves, High-holes, 

 and Hummingbirds pump softened food from their crops 

 down the throats of their offspring. 



The activity of the parents at this season is amazing. 

 Think of the day's work before a pair of Chickadees with 

 a family of six or eight fledglings clamoring for food 

 from daylight to dark ! 



But the young birds themselves furnish far more in- 

 teresting and valuable sul)]ects for study. None of the 

 higher animals can be reared so easily without the aid of 

 a parent. We therefore can not only study their growth 

 of body and mind when in the nest and attended by 

 their parents, but we can isolate the young of jjrsecocial 

 birds, such as Cliickens, from other birds and study their 

 mental development where they have no opportunity to 

 learn by imitation. In this way students of instinct and 

 heredity have olitained most valuable results.* 



* Read Lloyd Morgan's Habit and Instinct (Edward Arnold, New 

 York city). 



