CHILDHOOD 



to be given him. What was my surprise and 

 delight when one day he collected two or three 

 woodlice I had given him in his beak and hopping 

 to the edge of the nest very nimbly poked it down 

 the throat of one of the babies, and from that day 

 to this he has continued to feed them untiringly, 

 so much so that in order to insure him. getting 

 enough to eat himself I have had to shut him up 

 alone out of hearing of the persistent voices of 

 his adopted children until he swallowed a little 

 food which then he did very reluctantly. 



*' It was very interesting to note that never 

 once so far as I saw did he himself eat what he 

 considered the daintiest morsels which he had been 

 specially fond of before he started feeding the 

 starlings, but mealworms, small garden worms, 

 woodlice, flies, etc., which he always carefully 

 killed by squeezing in his beak and hammering 

 on the table first, he gave to the babies. If a 

 worm was specially tough, or I gave him a hard- 

 cased beetle, then he would eat it himself evidently 

 considering it too indigestible for his young 

 charges. 



I have never heard or seen a similar case where 

 a young bird in captivity, and still gaping for 

 food himself, has taken over the duties of a parent, 

 and it appears to me especially curious when the 

 adopted ones are of a different kind of bird 

 from himself." 



127 



