76 
BIRD-LIFE. 
old birds are incapable of, that is to say, in the case of 
many species of Ducks and Geese. Others, like the 
Divers, Mergansers and Goosanders, are able to swim and 
dive as well as the parent bird the first day of their 
birth, or at least as soon as their downy coats have 
become dry. The contrary occurs, however, in some 
cases, where the veritable rulers of the ocean depths 
are in their infancy anything but active in their own 
element. 
One gift, flight, only reaches perfection with maturity; 
the single exception to the rule is the family of the 
Gallinacese. No other bird, not even the most favoured 
in this respect, is able to use its wings for the purposes 
of locomotion before arriving at its full growth. Truly 
this condition is attained with comparatively uncommon 
rapidity. A large Falcon will require about seven weeks 
for the purpose; an Eagle scarcely four months ; a Swan 
twelve weeks, at the outside; an Ostrich not more than 
eight months, though, as a rule, old birds are larger than 
the young. 
I have said that young birds of prey, especially 
those which, when grown up, are the handsomest and 
possess the noblest bearing, are awkward and ugly in the 
extreme while in the nest. There are other birds, how¬ 
ever, whose young present a still droller, more comical, and 
sometimes more disagreeable appearance than even these. 
The young Ostrich resembles a hedgehog much more 
than a bird, its feathers all partaking of the character of 
stiff pointed spines, sticking straight out on all sides, 
like those of that animal. Young Herons are simply 
hideous to look at, and can scarcely be recognised as the 
beginning of what they are ultimately to become. Young 
Kingfishers have a dress which suggests the idea of a 
