Woodpeckers are not the only good bird parents. You can see how kind and careful mother-birds are, if you watch the hens in the farm-yard. Do you see them lead their little chicks out? They scratch the earth, and call the chicks to come and pick up food. When a hawk appears, the hen cries out, and spreads her wings wide, to shelter her chicks. When it rains, or when the little ones are tired, or at night, the hen calls them to rest under her wide, warm wings. If you watch a pair of robins raising a brood, you will wonder to see how many times in an hour they go and come, bringing food. When the little ones are fledged, notice how they are taught to fly. You may, also, see the father bird giving his little ones a lesson in singing. When one of the young birds is weaker than the rest, one of the parents will leave the others, and give all the time to teaching and helping that weak one. A bluebird in my garden, lost, by one trouble and another, all her brood but one. That one the parent birds were teaching to fly. It rested on the gravel walk, while the old birds sat on the fence, and called it. A boy of three years, seeing the young bird, went up close to look at it. The father bluebird flew close over the child’s head scolding. As the child got near the young bird, the old bird flew upon the child’s head and pulled his hair with its beak! The little boy ran screaming back to me. The young bluebird lifted his wings, and flew with his parents into a bush. Was not the father bluebird brave? The child, though only three years old, was many times bigger than the bird. I told you how the birds cleaned their nests. Birds are neat creatures. You notice that their feathers are bright and clean. Have you seen how much they prune or dress them? Birds are very fond of a bath. If you set a basin or pan of clean, fresh water, on the grass, among shrubs or trees, you will see many birds going to it to take a bath. They splash the water about in fine style. When the young birds are fledged, they will be brought to your basin to have a wash. When birds roll or whirl in dust or sand, it is not that they like dirt; they are having a sand bath. The sand flirted in and out among their plumage takes out grease and little insects and dirt. Then they shake off all the sand. FOOTNOTES: [28] Notice that the woodpecker uses its stiff pointed tail feathers to brace its body when it rises to the full length of its legs to aid it in giving a heavy blow, as it draws down its legs and dashes its beak into the tree with the force of all its weight. LESSON XXXIV. THE BIRDS OF SONG. The woods and the fields would be very dull and silent without the song of the birds. Even the shrill chirp of the sparrow is a pleasant sound to hear. It gives us an idea of happy life. [Illustration: A JOYFUL SONG.]