hey have very different degrees of
instinctive knowledge. Some are able to take the entire care of
themselves, and do not need a mother to watch over them; others, on the
contrary, are perfectly helpless, and need teaching before they can do
anything for themselves, except breathe, and swallow what is put into
their mouths. The young chicken, a short time after it leaves the egg,
knows how to take care of itself nearly as well as the young mound-bird.
It can run after its mother, use its eyes, pick up food, and answer the
call of the old hen; and it does all this without instruction. How
different it is in all these respects from the young barn-swallow! This
is blind, and unable to run, or even to stand, knowing only enough to
open its mouth when it hears the old bird return to the nest, and to
swallow the food placed in its open bill. Far from knowing by instinct
how to use its wings, as the young chick does its legs, it does not
learn this until it is well grown, and has had several lessons in
flying; and even then it flies badly, and improves only after long
practice. After it has learned to fly, it is still very helpless and
baby-like, and very different from the active, bright-eyed, independent
little chick of the barn-yard; and, indeed, the young of all the
_Rasores_, or scratching birds, such as the hen, the quail, the
partridge, the pheasant and the turkey. In the admirable picture of an
English pheasant and its brood, on page 610, you will see how very much
like young chicks the young pheasants are.

[Illustration: ENGLISH PHEASANT AND YOUNG.]

The scratching birds are not the only ones which can take care of
themselves at an early age. This is true of the running birds, such as
the ostrich; and the same is the case with many of the wading birds,
such as the woodcock; and among the swimming birds, there are several
kinds that take full care of themselves soon after leaving the shell.

[Illustration: MALLARD DUCKS.]

In the picture on the preceding page you have a pair of mallard ducks
with three young ones, which are all able to swim and dive as well as
their parents. You all know that, far from standing in need of
instruction, young ducks take to the water by instinct, even when they
have been brought up by a hen; and they know that they are perfectly
safe upon it, although the anxious hen tries in every way to restrain
them and to call them back. There are many ways in which some of our
young birds show t