TO FEED THEIR YOUNG. 141 



and aquatic tribes, have no cessation of labor from 

 early morning till the close of eve, till the brood can 

 provide for themselves. What unceasing toil and per- 

 severance are manifest in the rooks, and what distances 

 do they travel to obtain nourishment for their clamorous 

 brood ! It is a very amusing occupation for a short time, 

 to attend to the actions of a pair of swallows, or mar- 

 tens, the family of which have left the nest, and settled 

 upon some naked spray, or low bush in the field, the 

 parents cruising around, and then returning with their 

 captures to their young: the constant supply which 

 they bring, the celerity with which it is given and re- 

 ceived, and the activity and evolutions of the elder 

 birds, present a pleasing example of industry and affec- 

 tion. I have observed a pair of starlings for several days 

 in constant progress before me, having young ones in 

 the hole of a neighboring poplar tree, and they have 

 been probably this way in action from the opening of 

 the morning thus persisting in this labor of love for 

 twelve or thirteen hours in the day ! The space they 

 pass over in their various transits and returns must be 

 very great, and the calculation vague ; yet, from some 

 rude observations it appears probable that this pair in 

 conjunction do not travel less than fifty miles in the 

 day, visiting and feeding their young about a hundred 

 and forty times, which consisting of five in number, 

 and admitting only one to be fed each time, every bird 

 must receive in. this period eight-and-twenty portions 

 of food or water ! This excessive labor seems entailed 

 upon most of the land birds, except the gallinaceous 

 tribes, and some of the marine birds, which toil with 

 infinite perseverance in fishing for their broods ,* but 

 the very precarious supply of food to be obtained in 

 dry seasons by the terrestrial birds renders theirs a 

 labor of more unremitting hardship than that expe- 

 rienced by the piscivorous tribes, the food of which is 

 probably little influenced by season, while our poor 

 land birds find theirs to be nearly annihilated in some 

 cases. The gallinaceous birds have nests on the ground ; 

 the young leave them as soon as they escape from the 

 shell, are led immediately from the hatch to fitting 



