VALUE OF BIRDS TO MAN. 45 



have eaten, during the day, a quantity one and five-tsixths 

 times its own weight.^ 



Three young Robin.s, about ten days okl, fed by their 

 parents, were watched by AVeed and Dearborn. By an in- 

 genious method of weighing and calculating, tlie observers 

 arrived at the conchision that a})})arently there was eaten a 

 daily amount ecjual to more than half the birds' own weight.^ 



Mr. Daniel E. Owen kept a young Hermit Thrush, which 

 ate regularly half its weight of raw steak dailj", and would, 

 he says, probably have eaten as much more had it been fed 

 oftener.^ 



In 1895 tw^o young Crows were kept and fed by Messrs. 

 A. H. Kirkland and II. A. Ballou, then my assistants, from 

 August 7 to September 2, when one bird was killed l)y 

 accident. The survivor was kept until September 14, when 

 it was killed to determine some points regarding digestion. 

 These birds were confined in a large cage or enclosure in an 

 insectary, and were also allowed access during the day to 

 an enclosed yard, which they reached through the window. 

 This gave them considerable exercise. 



A careful record was kept of most of their food. Xever- 

 theless, they occasionally picked up some sprouted grain in 

 the yard, and probably a few insects that could not be re- 

 corded or weighed. For this reason the quantity of the daily 

 food supply recorded is probablj', on the average, too low, 

 or, in other words, on the safe side. Some of the smaller 

 animals fed to the birds (toads, frogs, and salamanders) were 

 not always weighed, but they w^ere measured and could be 

 compared with others of known weight, so that the weight 

 w^as approximated closely. 



The birds w^ere well grown when they were first received ; 

 but the amount of food at first given them probal)ly was not 

 sufficient for their needs, as their weight did not increase, 

 although they were fed a variety of both vegetal and animal 



* Birds of Ontario in their Relation to Agriculture, by Charles W. Xasli. 

 Toronto, Department of Agricultiire, 1898, p. 22. 



^ Birds in their Relations to Man, by Clarence ]SI. Weed and Xed Dearborn, 

 1!K)3, p. 65. 



' Notes on a Captive Hermit Thru.sh, by Daniel E. Owen. The Auk, Vol. 

 XIV, No. 1, January, 1897, pp. 1-8. 



