NESTLINGS OF FOREST AND MARSH 
side up on a fence-post. By this time the 
father had collected his wits and his family, 
or at least the first two, and now brought 
food to the third baby. But he did not 
approve of a fence-post, and coaxed the 
youngster down into the fern tangle, where 
the other two were. 
The babies left in the nest were demand- 
ing the entire attention of the mother, and 
would probably not have flown that day, 
but in a spirit of curiosity I “jiggled” 
the home the least little bit, and out they 
went. They were strong enough to fly, 
and I think both parents felt easier to have 
the family leave home together. An hour 
later they were sitting on the various branches 
of an elderberry bush, as quiet and well- 
behaved as young birds could be. They 
allowed me to catch them, and seemed be- 
wildered with their newly acquired freedom. 
The next lesson was to teach them to fly 
upward and land easily on a twig, and for 
some reason this was a difficult task. At 
first it was done by very short flights, — not 
