270 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[Decbmiiek, 1902. 



h;ul liocu dosiTibcd by Mr. Weir in Mac^'illivray's Britisli 

 J?inls. Mr. Weir observed that in the blackbird, soiif;- 

 lliriish and iiiistle-tiiriisli tht! old birds swallowed nearly 

 all tliedro|>|iiii^'s of their brood. Moreover, he shot one of 

 the birds iind found the dropjiiu<,'s in its stoniacli. Since 

 .Mr. Witherbv's obsorvatiou.s the habit has been recorded 

 in these colunuis by the Rev. A. East* and by Mr. Georj^'e 

 J. Chapman. t I was particularly interested to find that 

 Mr. Witherby suggested that the parent birds at the rime 

 when they are busily occupied with the needs of their 

 hnn;,'ry offsprini,', probably derive a considerable amount 

 of their own nourishment in this curious manner. This 

 is just the conclusion I arrived at iudepeudently, and I 

 was stren;j;thencd in this belief when I observed that the 

 thrushes allowed no time for their own feeding. A great 

 many of the worms that they brought were found close at 

 hand on the lawn in front of me, and from my window I 

 could sometimes keep one bird under perpetual observation 

 for half-an-hour at a time. As a matter of fact I often 

 had my eye at the spy-hole even while 1 was writing a 

 note for fear of missing something of interest. 



So far from my occupation becoming monotonous, I 

 only regretted that my health did not allow me to remain 

 at my post for the entire day, from before dawn until after 

 dusk ; the question of meals vrould have presented little 

 dilliculty. As it was, I was continually witnessing pretty 

 incidents which would have delighted the heart of "a 

 photogra{)her. One of the most eventful half- hours which 

 I spent thus was when the young birds were only two 

 days old. I had got to my place of concealment un- 

 observed soon after noon, when a slight shower came on. 

 The female at once appeared with food, of which she 

 hastily disposed, and then settled down on her brood. 

 Five minutes later the male arrived on the scene with a 

 large supply of worms, cut up in lengths ready for 

 distribution. It was charming to see the perfect under- 

 standing between the two parents ; the mother, without 

 otherwise moving, threw back her head and received a 

 share of the worms ; she then took her stand oa the 

 opposite side of the nest, and the pair dipping down fed 

 the hungry mouths stretched up between them ; finally the 

 cleansing process was carried out as I have described, and 

 the female resumed her seat. Very soon her mate was 

 back, but this time having a smaller supply he refused 

 point blank to allow her a portion. She reached up and 

 tried to snatch it out of his bill, but he only iield it higher, 

 so there was nothing for it but to stand aside, and allow 

 the proud father to do the work which he so evidently 

 enjoyed. On his next return, however, five minutes later, 

 he made amends by giving his partner a whole worm for 

 her own consumption. About this time the shower of rain 

 became a regular downpour, and the careful mother stood 

 up, and shaking herself, spread out her wings until they 

 overlapped the edges of the nest, thus completely sheltering 

 her chicks beneath. Her back was dripping but she 

 seemed well content ; in fact it was as good as the bath 

 that thrushes always delight in, and she passed the time 

 preening her feathers with great care. Once or twice, in 

 the most natural manner possible, she obtained a drink by 

 catching a raindrop that trickled off a broad leaf beside 

 her. Meanwhile the male was not idle, for when the 

 shower suddenly stopped, he reappeared at once with a 

 good supply of food, and his partner was enabled to fly 

 off and stretch her limbs. 



Later in the day I waited a whole houi- and a half 

 without once seeing the young fed, and had a practical 

 illustration of the thrush's nervous temperament. The 

 fact was that I had been ill-advised enough to put down 



* Knowledge, 1899, p. 133. + Knowledge, 1899, p. 178. 



within ten yards of the nest some crumbs, which both 

 jiarents inspected from time to time with every sign of 

 uneasiness. At the end of a long hour the male indeed 

 summoned up courage to bring a specially large worm, but 

 having got as far as the nest there he stood leaning over it, 

 perfectly motionless, in a listening attitude for a good five 

 minutes, and then, (jnitc regardless of the four gaping 

 mouths which he had been tantalising, he deliberately 

 settled himself down on the brood. There he remainederjually 

 motionless for the next half-hour, at the end of which 

 I left him with a long worm still dangling from his bill. I 

 saw just the same thing hai>pen on another occasion. 



I should mention that about this time a pair of robins 

 were intent on building inside the summer-house. When 

 the young thrushes were nearly fledged one of the robins 

 paid them a visit. They heard him coming, mounting up 

 from branch to branch by the route their parents were 

 wont to take. I saw them stretch their necks as usual in 

 eager anticipation. It was comical to witness their dismay 

 at the unexpected apparition ; they subsided deeji into 

 the nest, while their visitor surveyed them with lordly 

 disdain and then passed on. 



The time was drawing near for the fiual departure of 

 the brood. I was most anxious not to miss this, and was 

 fortunate in actually seeing the first chick leave the nest. 

 On the thirteenth day of their existence I was on the 

 scene early in the morning, and saw at once that they 

 were getting very restless and anxious to explore the wide 

 world. Had I walked openly to the nest, there is little 

 doubt that they would have flown off one and all without 

 hesitation, as I had caused another brood to do a few days 

 before. In this case, however, I had the much greater 

 satisfaction of watching them screw up their courage to 

 take the fateful step of their own accord. One youngster 

 was disposed to take the lead from the first. In the 

 absence of his parents he wriggled himself up till he so 

 stood on the edge of the nest ; after some hesitation he 

 began to walk gingerly round it ; he had almost got back 

 into his place, however, when a parent appeared, and the 

 latter found nothing amiss. Hardly had she flown off, 

 when the adventurer was on his feet again, and stepped 

 boldly off on to a branch. Finding all well so far, he 

 fluttered down to a lower one, and there he stuck. Then, 

 for the first time, I heard the familiar chirp of a young 

 thrush, and I am inclined to believe that they never utter 

 it until they are at large. His example was soon followed 

 by two of the others, and this was the scene which met 

 the eyes of their mother on her next visit. She seemed 

 decidedly disturbed by the turn things had taken, and as 

 an object lesson bestowed all the food she had brought on 

 the exemplary chick that had stayed at home. A few 

 minutes later he too had fluttered out. This led up to 

 one of the most delightful tableaux of the whole series. 

 All four young birds were now scattered, but still quite 

 close, and holding on for dear life. The mother bird, as 

 a last resort, took her stand at the nest with a tempting 

 worm in her bill ; there she waited, looking from one to 

 another as if to invite them to return, and every now and 

 then, by way of making her meaning plainer, she bent 

 down into the nest and went through all the actions of 

 feeding an imaginary brood. Several of her family 

 appeared to think twice about going back, but knew not 

 how to manage the return journey, till at last in disgust 

 she ostentatiously swallowed the tit-bit herself. Presently, 

 however, compelled to realize that a new phase of their 

 home life had been entered upon, she bravely settled down 

 with her constant mate to do all that was needful for their 

 welfare, apparently recognising in her maternal wisdom 

 the added perils that would beset her offspring in the next 

 stage of their development. 



