ANIMAL COMMUNICATION 
it is the order of nature. They are not trained in the 
way they should go, as a child is by its human par- 
ents —they are not trained at all; but their natu- 
ral instincts doubtless act more promptly and surely 
with the mother than without her. That a young 
kingfisher or a young osprey would, in due time, 
dive for fish, or a young marsh hawk catch mice 
and birds, or a young fox or wolf or coon hunt for 
its proper prey without the parental example, ad- 
mits of no doubt at all; but they would each prob- 
ably do this thing earlier and better in the order of 
nature than if that order were interfered with. 
The other day I saw a yellow-bellied woodpecker 
alight upon a decaying beech and proceed to drill 
for a grub. Two of its fully grown young followed 
it and, alighting near, sidled up to where the parent 
was drilling. A hasty observer would say that the 
parent was giving its young a lesson in grub-hunt- 
ing, but I read the incident differently. The parent 
bird had no thought of its young. It made passes at 
them when they came too near, and drovethem away. 
Presently it left the tree, whereupon one of the young 
examined the hole its parent had made and drilled a 
little on its own account. A parental example like 
this may stimulate the young to hunt for grubs ear- 
lier than they would otherwise do, but this is merely 
conjecture. There is no proof of it, nor can there 
be any. 
The mother bird or beast does not have to be 
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