228 A HISTORY OF BIRDS 



Where the young are fed on insects, either in the form of 

 grubs or imagos, it is amazing to see the number of victims 

 which the parents will contrive, in some mysterious way, to 

 gather up and hold within their beaks before flying off to the 

 nursery. The Starling and the Wagtail may be taken as 

 examples of this custom. The Puffin, which feeds its young on 

 fish, has acquired a marvellous skill in holding several fish in the 

 bill at once. One can understand easily enough how one or 

 two can be held, but how a dozen or so victims can be gathered 

 up without the earlier ones being dropped is a mystery. 



Among Passerine birds both sexes share the work of feeding, 

 and though the female is generally most assiduous, the male 

 occasionally exceeds his mate in zeal. Mr. Farren describes 

 the case of a pair of Chaffinches in which the male bore the 

 brunt of the work. He generally brought food (insects) entirely 

 concealed in his mouth. This was then regurgitated, and dis- 

 tributed to the young according to their needs, or according to 

 their clamour. If any inability, or disinclination, to swallow 

 was observed he carefully readjusted the food in the mouth of 

 the youngster, or transferred it to one more hungry! With 

 regard to the Stone Chat he noticed that while the female 

 always brought small insects, generally spiders, and sometimes 

 butterflies and moths, the male always brought large caterpillars. 

 Miss E. L. Turner, an Ornithologist of rare zeal and great 

 discrimination, tells a most amusing story of a scene she saw 

 enacted on the edge of the nest of a Red-backed Shrike. The 

 male had brought to the nest a young bird, and pulling off its 

 head proceeded to ram it down the throat of a very clamant 

 youngster. But the morsel was too big and had to be readjusted, 

 not once, but several times, and finally, was rammed down its 

 throat with such success that the wretched bird was in imminent 

 danger of death from choking. At this the female, who had 

 been sitting on the opposite edge of the nest looking on, and 

 making, apparently, very sarcastic remarks on the awkwardness 

 of her lord, seized the offending head and dragging it from the 

 throat of the choking offspring, proceeded to tear it into small 

 pieces, giving each of her brood a piece. And during this time 

 the male looked on in what appeared to be a very subdued 

 fashion ! 



With regard to the feeding of Passerine birds much has yet 



