30 Practical Bird-Keeping. 



recover. Do not hurry its recovery, let it at least be able to hold 

 its head up and to sit upright in your hand before you put it 

 back in the nest, and be sure and do this very gently, or the 

 second young one may jump out too, and do not attempt it while 

 the old bird is in the nest. Of course, you may just send it off, 

 but there is a great risk it might not come back, and in that case 

 you would probably lose both young ones. 



It is useless, however, to attempt to restore a young bird 

 to the nest when it has got beyond the fledgling stage, and is 

 getting fully feathered, for it would only jump out again. If a 

 young bird should leave the nest just a da}' or two before it 

 naturally should do, it is better to leave it and not interfere. 



When the young ones are out, take away all your hay bed, 

 save a small handful in one corner for the young birds to nestle 

 in, (for a soft floor quickly makes weak legs), they should be 

 prevented from wandering into any part of the aviary where the 

 top is open netting or the floor damp. If you do not do this they 

 will be certain to squat where they should not, for their little 

 legs are soon tired, and the result will be an internal chill caused 

 by contact with the cold surface. The next stage will be that the 

 young one will become greatly relaxed, and will weaken and die, 

 for the parents will purpose!}' neglect an unhealtliy young bird. 

 It is not a bad plan to put lidless boxes (turned on one side) with 

 a snug bed of hay in, for the young ones to go into at night, as 

 they will probably not return to the nest after once leaving it, 

 indeed, as they are not yet at the flying stage it would be an 

 impossibility when once they are on the floor. 



On the question of hand-rearing a deserted young bird, I 

 think there is much to learn, and all being well this summer I 

 hope to make some experiments. I used to think it a hopeless 

 task, but recently I have rather changed my mind from an 

 accidental discovery. 



The most important point is to know ivhoi to take the bird 

 in hand. If the weakness has got ahead there is a poor chance 

 of overtaking it, and whilst ever there seems a chance that the 

 parents are doing their duty one is reluctant to interfere. 



Oiiile accidentally last year I learnt hoiv to feed a young 

 dove. Doves, as you know, feed the young from the crop, the 



