16 The Food of Nestling Birds. 



I think the Cardinals amuse themselves by purloining material 

 and pulling the nests to pieces. 



1 also have a Zebra and two Senegal Doves (all cocks) 

 in the same aviary. I must get mates lor them next year 

 and try my luck. 



The Food of Nestling Birds. 



By Walter E. Collinge, M.Sc, F.L.S., F.E.S. 



[Reprinted from "The Journal of the Board of Agriculture," 

 September, 1912— p. 460, with thanks for kind permission.— Eu.]. 



It is a well-known fact tha' ne.stli.igs consume during 

 the first few days of their li^e considerably more than their 

 own weight of food per day, making a daily gain in weight 

 of from 20 to even 50 per cent. During this period feeding 

 commences before sunrise and continues until after sunset. 

 The number of meals taken during this period is very large. 

 Dr. Clarence M. Weed* records that in the case of the Chip- 

 ping Sparrow (Spizella soclalis) the total number of visits 

 paid by the parent birds, bringing food, in a day amounted 

 to nearly 200. Dr. S. D. Judd,t writing of the House Wren 

 {Troglodytes aedon) states " that nestlings are fed very fre- 

 quejitly, and consume an enormous quantity of food, is well 

 shown by a half -day's observation," made by him on June 

 17th, 1899. He watched the feeding of a brood of three. 

 " The family was found housed in a cavity in a locust tree, 

 and was transferred to a baking-powder can, which was nailed 

 to the trunk of the tree four feet above the ground, a con- 

 venient height for observation. The young were about three- 

 fourths grown." The mother wren made 110 visits in four 

 hours and thirty-seven minutes. On the following day simi- 

 lar observations were made, and in three hours and live min- 

 utes the young were lea (57 times. NewsteadJ has also giVen 

 details for the Starlings as follows : — 



*BuIl. No. 55, New Hampshire Agric. Exp. Stat., 1898. 



t -Tho Food of Nestling Birds," Year-book, U.S. Dept. Agric, 1900; 



pubd. 1901. 

 5: The Food of Some British Birds, Supplement to the Journal Dec, 



1908. p. 58. 



