138 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



"Emile's improvement is not indispensable," 

 Uncle Paul replied. "If it is hungry the bird will 

 open its beak without being asked. Into this beak 

 that gapes so wide the parents put the point of theirs 

 and drop whatever prize they have found ; but if the 

 little bird is very young the father and mother begin 

 by half-digesting in their own stomach the food des- 

 tined for the little one. Then they put their beak 

 into the little one r s and disgorge the nutritious pap 

 that they have prepared. 



"Well, pigeons do exactly the reverse: it is the 

 father and mother that gape, and the little ones that 

 plunge their beak deep down into the throat of the 

 parent bird. The latter is then seized with a con- 

 vulsion of the stomach accompanied by a rapid trem- 

 bling of the wings and body. Little plaintive cries 

 denote that the operation is perhaps not quite pain- 

 less. From the crop thus done violence to, the half- 

 digested nutritive matter comes up in a jet that 

 passes into the half-open beak of the nursling. 

 Twice a day the little pigeons receive their food in 

 this way ; twice a day, but no more, so painful to the 

 nurses seems this mode of feeding from beak to 

 beak." 



"I should think," said Jules, "that the parents 

 would feel rather uncomfortable when the young pi- 

 geon tickles their throat, deep down, with its beak. 

 If we can judge by what would happen to us, the 

 stomach would rebel and would throw up its contents 

 painfully." 



' ' That is apparently the way of it. The disgorged 



