THE CARE OF YOUNG BIRDS 

 AFTER THEY LEAVE THE NEST 



IT has been urged as an objection to the Darwinian 

 theory that Natural Selection, if that force exists, 

 must tend to destroy species rather than cause 

 new ones to come into being. Nearly all birds 

 leave the nest before they are fully developed. When 

 they first come out of the nursery they have attained 

 neither their full powers of flight nor complete skill 

 in obtaining food. Every young bird, no matter how 

 fine a specimen it be, leaves the nest an inexperienced 

 weakling, and can therefore stand no chance in com- 

 petition with the fully grown and experienced members 

 of the species. Natural Selection takes an individual 

 as it finds it and pays no attention to potentialities. 



That such an objection should have been urged 

 against the theory of Natural Selection is proof of the 

 fact that naturalists are inclined to forget that, with 

 many, if not all, species of birds, the duties of the 

 parents towards their offspring by no means cease 

 when the young birds leave the nest. 



The parent birds, in many cases, continue to feed 

 their young long after these are apparently well able 

 to fend for themselves. This fact is not sufficiently 

 emphasised in books on natural history. On the other 



23 



