SPARROWS IN THE NURSERY 19 



destroys each year over 20,000 insects, mostly injurious, 

 in the feeding of her young. Add to this number those 

 she herself consumes, those the cock eats, and those he 

 brings to the nest, and you have a fine insect mortality 

 bill. 



The movements of the mother bird when feeding 

 her young are so rapid that it is not easy to determine 

 what it is she brings to the nest, even though the objects 

 hang down from her beak ; the same applies to the cock. 

 In order to make quite certain of the nature of the food 

 she was bringing, I sought, by frightening her, to make 

 her drop a beakful ; accordingly, at one of her visits I 

 tapped the window-pane smartly just as she was about 

 to ram the food down the gaping mouth of a young 

 bird. She flew off chirruping with anger and alarm, 

 but kept her bill tightly closed on the food she was 

 carrying. As the parents had to feed the young ones 

 through the bars of a cage the process required some 

 manipulation, and, in spite of its care, the bird some- 

 times dropped part of its burden ; but, almost before 

 I had time to move, it had dashed down to the ground 

 and retrieved it. However, by dint of careful watching 

 I managed to bang the window immediately after the 

 hen had dropped something of a dark colour. Having 

 frightened her away I rushed outside and found that the 

 object in question was part of a sausage-shaped sac 

 containing a number of tiny green grubs. After a few 

 minutes the hen returned with her beak full. Her fright 

 had made her suspicious, so she perched on the verandah 

 trellis-work and looked around for a little. Nine times 

 she flew towards the cage, but on each occasion her 



