YOUNG SAPSUCKERS IN CAPTIVITY. 173 



been trying to change the diet of the surviving 

 birds, but they refused everything except their 

 syrup and a fly or two wliich they seemed to care 

 for but little. Among the things offered them 

 were a sweet apple, a pear, a peach, grapes, and 

 earthworms. I diluted their syrup more than 

 usual, and put lemon juice with it. Number 

 One's condition was such on the evening of the 

 18th that I had no hope of finding him alive on 

 the next morning. He survived, however, 

 although in a most pitiful condition ; his eyes 

 winked frequently, he seemed to see little, and 

 that little in such a way as to confuse distances ; 

 his breathing was unnatural and he trembled 

 constantly. Monday passed, and while One 

 grew no better. Two became seriously ill. On 

 Tuesday morning, both birds were alive, that was 

 all. At eight o'clock. Two had a violent convul- 

 sion and never recovered from it. A few moments 

 later One, who had clung to life with such tena- 

 city, died in the same way — maintaining to the 

 last the advantage which he had first claimed in 

 the nest. Number One was examined by an 

 expert physician in Cambridge, who pronounced 

 his liver enormous and in a diseased condition. 

 It nearly filled the abdominal cavity, crowding 

 other organs. It was soft and greenish. Num- 

 ber Two was forwarded to the Department of 

 Agriculture, which reported that the bird " had 



