The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-14
YOUNG WILD BIRDS.

hlruS are so interesting 10 the out
 door naturalist in the spring, when
 they are singing, pairing, and build
 ing their nests, and again in autumn
 when on their migration, that in the
 midsummer months they are often less
 carefully observed. At the present
 time most of the broods of the year are
 matched and fledged, and the young
 or the species which nest in the Brit
 ish Islands are learning to get their
 own living among the immense sup
 plies of food which the summer season
 brings. The habits of young wild birds
 at this season of education and growth
 are not less interesting than when they are mature. But the thickness of the foliage on the trees, the high vegeta- tion of the cultivated land, and the natural tendency of young birds to
 keep quiet and still, make the study of
 them a matter of some difficulty In the hedgegrows and by the woodsides
 unfamiliar notes and calls of birds are constantly heard-the notes of young birds, whcih cannot be identified owing
 to the thickness of the foliage, and
 though in the large woods the cry of the young spaTow-hawks and the flight of the pigeons and woodpeckers betray their presence, it is almost inn
 possible to watch them, or to ascer- tain their way of procuring food.
 Probably most of the larger species
 are fed by the old birds long after they
 leave the nest Of game birds, young
 cartridges are the most self-reliant and young pheasants the least able to
 take care of themselves. The present
 writer has never seen young quails; but
 as those coveys which are matched in
 England often number as many birds as the quail usually lays eggs, it may
 be presumed that these, the smallest
 of the game birds, are not less active and precocious than the young of the
 partridge The latter are almost as active upon land as young wild ducks are upon the water. They run swiftly and without hesitation, even among thick vegetation, when they are no big
 ger than a wren, and follow or precede their mother through moving grass, hedgerows, or the sides of furzebreaks
 and copses seeking their whereabouts by unnecessary noise or excursions.
 Young pheasants, on the other hand are constantly getting separated from the brood and lost, when they put up their
 heads and squeak dolefully, attracting the attention of enemies, furred or feathered, to their helpless condition If chased, a small pheasant pokes it's
 head under cover, and waits to be caught.
 Under similar circumstances the young chicks of another ground-feeding
 bird, the peewit, would squat" the mo- ment an enemy appeared in sight, and remain still as 8 stone until he was gone. This suggests the very interest," ing question why a young partridge or pheasant "in the down"-that is, before l 1t has grown any true feathers-does not squat" though that is the favor ite means for concealment used by l these birds when grown up, while the | young peewit, which when grown up
 never uses this manoeuvre, always has
 recourse to It. In the adult partridge, and even more In the adult pheasant, 1 squatting,' seems as instinetive as in l the tiny blower. They seem to sink to 1 the ground almost automatically when l they feel alarm, and their trust in the ! protection of immobility and assimila- | tion of outline to the contour of the | ground is almost limitless. The writer 1 has seen hen pheasant crouched un-
 der single mangold root and waiting l there until a setter's nose touched it's | feathers, and he has caught cartridges with the hand that have "squatted" in
 the snow until they sank beneath the ] surface Every snortsroan will recall | striking instances of the very strong,
 and, as it would appear, innate im- | pulse of both species of bird to do this. Yet there is little doubt that in the case
 of cartridges and pheasants it is in part an acquired habit-taught by the old
 birds to the young while in the case of the plover it is instinctive in the young,
 and only abandoned when no longe. needed, because the bird then trusts to l it's gs.-London Spectator.