RESTING TIME OF THE BIRDS 



building, the anxieties of brooding, have 

 been followed by the tremendous exer- 

 tion of caring for that nestful of young 

 birds. A healthy fledgling will eat almost 

 his own weight of food in a day, and by 

 the time he is able to fly and chase the 

 old birds around for more the father and 

 mother are worn to a frazzle. I really 

 believe the youngsters are weaned only 

 when their demand for food becomes so 

 enormous with their completed growth 

 that the parents cease to supply it 

 through sheer physical exhaustion. 



I once reared a pair of young crows 

 by hand, taking them from the home nest 

 in a big pine, leaving three others 

 quite enough I afterward thought for 

 the parent birds. They were negroid, 

 naked, pod-bodied creatures at the time, 

 with long clutchy claws, ridiculous stubs 

 of wings, and, ye gods, what mouths! 



185 



