CHAPTER IV. 



YOUNG : HOW THEY ARE FED AND Tl^vOTECrED. 



How Chicks of Various Species Differ — Chicks that are Covered with 

 Down and those that ai-e not— The Baby Oj-ster- Catcher that 

 had a Great Fall— The First Week in the Life of a Baby 

 Blackbird — "Me Won't Sit I "— 03-ster-Catchers AVatchinc;- over 

 their Chicks — AViles of Parent Birds to Decoy Intruders from 

 their Youn^-— Bravery of BirJs in Defending their Y'oung — 

 Daring- Ducklings — How Parent Birds Work to Support their 

 Families— A Tit-bit for Mother — Y'oung Rooks Learning to 

 Forage for themselves — Wasteful Birds — Times of Plenty — A 

 Welcome Home for Mother and Father — What Young Birds 

 do when they Leave Homo— The Cuckoo and its liad H ibits. 



The periods occupied by nest-luiilding and brooding 

 are no doubt happy, hopeful times, but tlie real 

 joys and cares of a mother bird's Hfe only com- 

 mence when the young burst forth from their little 

 j)rison-houses of shell. 



The chicks of some species may be distinctly 

 heard cheep-cheep-cheeping before a particle of the 

 shell of the c^^i^ in Avhich they lie tucked away is 

 broken. At such times I liaYC watched the sitting 

 parent rise, turn the contents of her nest carefully 

 over, listen for a little while, and sitting down 

 again, look the very happiest thing in all the 

 countryside. And when the young ones have come 

 forth, what a wealth of love and care is lavished 

 upon them ! Day in and day out, almost every 



