FAMILY CARES— NURSERY DUTIES. 159 



The plovers, and many other birds, draw 

 intruders from the neighbourhood of the eggs 

 or young by feigning to be wounded, the object 

 being to entice all such away by holding out the 

 hope of an easy capture. As soon as a sufficient 

 distance has been covered the bird takes wing and 

 leaves its would-be captor greatly discomfited. 



The woodcock has frequently been known ta 

 carry its young long distances when threatened 

 by any danger. This it does by pressing the 

 little chick to its breast by the aid of its beak^ 

 and giving support from below with its feet. 

 Some however say it is carried between the 

 legs without any aid from the bill. 



Amongst the ostrich tribe, the duties of in- 

 cubation are almost entirely performed by the 

 male, who with the female accompanies the 

 young for some time. 



This also occurs in some other birds. For 

 instance, the phalaropes (plover-like birds), the 

 painted snipe, and the bustard-quails. In all 

 these, strangely enough, the females excel both 

 in size, and beauty of colouration. Whenever 

 their superiority in these respects obtain, as we 

 have remarked in an earlier chapter, it is the 

 female bird which does the courting. 



The period of incubation lasts from ten days 

 in the little Australian zosterops to sixty in the 

 ostrich. 



Some of the methods of feeding the young are 

 well worth notice. In the pigeons, for instance, 

 the mucous membrane lining the interior of the 

 crop becomes extraordinarily active during the 

 breeding-season, and peels off in the form of a. 



