THE MURDEROUS CAT 199 



weaned from the "milk." Parrots feed their 

 helpless chicks in much the same way. 



Some birds escape the preparation of this food, 

 by finding soft food for the chicks. A Sparrow, 

 when he is grown to maturity, has a hard stout 

 bill powerful enough to crush seeds, but the baby 

 Sparrow has a very soft bill. His baby food, then, 

 consists of soft grubs and worms. Other seed- 

 eating birds swallow the seeds, and, when they are 

 half-digested, bring them up again for the nest- 

 lings. 



Swifts gather together a large number of small 

 flies and, in order to save the time and trouble of 

 returning to the nest with each mouthful, as 

 Chickadees do, they stick these flies together in 

 their mouths with a glue-like substance until they 

 have a pellet almost as big as a small marble. 

 This they carry back to the nest. Swallow nest- 

 lings, when they are beginning to fly but are not 

 yet quick enough to catch their prey, are fed by 

 their parents on the wing. 



The Whip-Poor- Will lets the young nestling put 

 its head down the mother's throat and pull out the 

 food. The Brown Pelican and other birds of the 

 same Order, let the young birds do the same thing, 

 but, in order to reach the food the little one has 



