104 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



their nests and act suspiciously towards their owner 

 when nesting. 



In some cases birds alter the diet as the young 

 grow older ; American investigators, for instance, 

 have found that Crackles (Quiscalus) give the 

 young as their first meals very tiny spiders, and I 

 noticed that a pair of Indian Dabchicks (Podicipes 

 capensis) I watched for years on our pond in the 

 Museum grounds in Calcutta fed the young for 

 the first week or so only on insects and small 

 freshwater prawns, not on fish as well, as they 

 did later on. 



With regard to the tastes of active self-feeding 

 chicks, every one must have noticed the extreme 

 activity of young Ducks in capturing flies, which 

 seem to form their chief food ; and the young of 

 the Tufted Duck (Fuligula fuligula) catch small 

 fish ; the Red Grouse also, one of the most limited 

 of vegetarians when adult, feeding almost entirely 

 on heather and bilberry, nevertheless is largely 

 insectivorous when young, like the more omnivorous 

 Pheasant and Partridge. Young Great Bustards 

 are also far more animal feeders than the old birds, 

 which are mainly vegetarian. 



I do not know of any bird which is vegetarian 

 when young and afterwards takes to animal diet, 

 but many can live on vegetable food from the first, 

 such as Parrots among nestlings and goslings 

 among the active type of young birds ; I also found 

 that young Indian Barbets of two species, the 

 Blue-cheeked (Cyanops asiatica) and the above- 



