76 THE BIRD GROWN UP 
Birds have been found caught in the lining of 
a nest, so that they were held there and could 
not go for food. They had been there for 
weeks, and would have starved to death if they 
had not been fed. Yet they were so well taken 
care of by other birds that they were strong and 
able to fly. 
In one case, where the nest was in a tree trunk, 
the hole in the trunk had grown up, so that 
when big enough to fly, they could not get out, 
and they had been there for months. Yet when 
a man cut open the trunk and let them out, they 
were well and lively, proving that they had been 
fed by friends outside all that time. 
I could tell you many true stories of the kind 
care of birds for each other, and for baby birds 
who had lost their parents, or been stolen away 
from them. 
A gentleman in Massachusetts told me that 
when he was a boy he saw a small flock of che- 
winks who came about a house where food was 
put out for birds. They came every day, and he 
soon saw that one was bigger than the rest, and 
that he never tried to pick up anything for him- 
self, but all the others fed him. 
One day he was cruel enough to throw a stone 
at the bird who was so well taken care of, and 
when he took up his victim, he found that the 

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