Home Life 



pouch and help themselves. And how they prod 

 and poke about among the morning's catch, to make 

 the best selection possible ! It is a wonder the 

 skinny pouch is not torn asunder by such thrusts 

 and stabs as the ill-mannered little gourmands give 

 it. No sooner is the family larder emptied, and the 

 parent's back is turned to refill it, than the dis- 

 satisfied youngsters begin to squabble over the con- 

 tents of one another's pouches. Their greed seems 

 even more insatiable than their appetites. 



The hawks, owls, ospreys and some other birds 

 should make the best of stepmothers, so bountifully 

 do they provide for their nurseries. Mice, muskrats, 

 eels, small fish, young rabbits, rats, woodcock and 

 grouse, weighing over eighteen pounds in the aggre- 

 gate, were the surplus food removed from the nest 

 of a pair of horned owls, wherein two owlets only 

 had to be supplied. Some birds of prey heap food 

 about their offspring until they can scarcely see over 

 the piles. Owls choose the brains only of most of 

 their captives as food for their babies. 



A remarkable provision is made for young 

 pigeons during the first week of their lives. When 

 the squabs thrust their bills into their parents' throats 

 to be fed, there arises what is erroneously called 

 "pigeon's milk" from the crops of both the father 

 and the mother. This secretion, formed from the 

 peeled lining of the parents' crop a result following 

 incubation gradually becomes mixed with regur- 

 gitated food as the squabs grow older, and it ceases 

 only when their digestion is strong enough to dis- 

 pense with baby diet. Apparently this strange 

 secretion is peculiar to the pigeon tribe. 



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