WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



the aperture of her nest-hole, she will sit resolutely 

 on, and allow herself to be taken in the hand with 

 scarcely a struggle or sign of resistance — even of 

 life, sometimes. The young are fed with large 

 insects caught by the parents, particularly those 

 sub-aquatic sorts which hover near the surface of 

 still water; and White mentions instances where 

 young swallows were fed with dragon-flies nearly 

 as long as themselves. So are young purple mar- 

 tins. The young do not leave the nest until they 

 are about ready to take full care of themselves. 

 Finally, they are pushed off b^^ the parents to make 

 way for a second brood, and, inexperienced in the 

 use of their wings, many fall a prey to crows and 

 small hawks that lie in wait ready to pounce upon 

 the first poor little fellow that launches upon the 

 untried air. Those that manage to run the gant- 

 let of the hawks collect in small companies by them- 

 selves, and have a good time hunting by day and 

 roosting at night among the river-reeds, until the 

 autumn migration. ''At this time, Salerne ob- 

 serves,'' says Latham, ''that the young are very 

 fat, and in flavor scarcely inferior to the ortolan" 

 — a European suggestion rather shocking to Amer- 

 ican ears. Sometimes the parents forsake their 

 progeny in the nest, and seem generally to care 



288 



