YOUNG-CARRYING BIRDS.
The very interesting question whether birds carry their young has been put to me by a correspondent of the Spectator. It is now absolutely proved that the woodcock will carry its young under the thigh ; and probably the device is fre- quently adopted. It is also, I believe, established (though some of the descriptions in American books are imaginative) that the eagle will just support the young on its back when teaching it to fly. Among others Mr. Long, a delightful writer, if sometimes more literary than zoological, quotes a beautiful passage in Ezekiel as precisely accurate in every detail. " As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord." The underlined passage is closely parallel to the account of the swans in Ireland, as given by a corre- spondent. The eagle was said to have been seen forcing the young to precipitate itself into the air and when it fell stooping beneath it and holding it up till it recovered its nerve. We all know the charming legend or fable of the wren riding on the back of the eagle.
* * * *
Previous page
