INTRODUCTION. 
^ ^But now the feather’d youth, their former bounds 
Ardent disdain, and weighing oft their wings, 
Demand the free possession of the sky.” 
The anxious solicitude of the parents at this period, and their skill in 
instructing their progeny in the use of their pinions, form a scene highly 
gratifying to the contemplative mind. The young birds are roused from 
their state of inaction by the old ones, and they assemble on the sides of 
the nest. Then one of the parents, from an adjoining branch, begins the 
instruction, by first spreading abroad and fluttering its wings. It then 
slowly descends to the ground ; this is frequently repeated. The timid and 
fearful young ones this moment appear determined to launch into the air 
and quit the nest, and in the next, overwhelmed by apprehension, they 
cling more closely to it, and by cowering display their fears. The parents 
use a light, airy chirp to stimulate the trial, and the young, thus encouraged, 
reeover from their fright, and again make the attempt."*' If they are still inti- 
midated the old one enters the nest, and compels them to quit it ; and, when 
they reach the ground, a general twittering displays the Joy of the family 
in the accomplishment of their desires.^'* Few young birds return to the 
nest, and those which do are principally of those kinds that build and 
sleep in the cavities of walls, or in the hollows of trees. The care of 
the parents is still exerted ; they hover round their artless little ones to give 
them protection ; they point out places, in which to find subsistence ; they 
lead them to shelter from the storm ; they instruct them to avoid dangers, 
and discover for them retreats for their security, and repose. When 
they have attained the arts, which enable them to support themselves, 
if the parents look forward to the production of a second bropd, they 
quit to join promiscuously in autumn, perhaps unconnected by affection, 
with the flocks of their congeners. But many of those species that have but 
one brood in a season, except their first be taken away, or destroyed, or 
whieh, having more than one, such as the Blue Titmouse, the Jay, the 
Thomson’s description of the first flight of young birds is as beautiful as it is accurate. 
The stoics denied affection to beasts, and contended for a blind impulse. ** Affectibus 
carent, habent auteui similes quosdanj impulsus. ” Sen ; de ira. 
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