VOL. xni.] THE OYSTERCATCHER. 209 



chick rests on one foot and sleeps with the bill under the 

 scapulars. 



Feeding Activities. — Feeding does not begin for 1-2 

 days after hatching takes place. Towards the end of the 

 first day a little food may be brought by one of the parents 

 and fed to the young from the tip of the bill. But pure 

 meconium has been seen as late as 48 hours after birth. On 

 the 3rd day large worms are brought in freely to the young, 

 and offered in fragments which are pointed out to the 3'oung 

 by the adults. From the 5th day onwards the young pick 

 insects off the vegetation, but a regular search for surface 

 food has not been observed at any stage. At the end of the 

 1st week the chick begins to test the soil by gently tapping 

 it with the bill : at the same stage it can catch an object 

 in mid air as it drops from the parent's bill. Large living 

 insects cause an avoiding reaction until the parent crushes 

 them. In the 2nd week the parent drops the food and leaves 

 the chick to pick it up. At first the young seize worms at 

 the nearest point. This happens most often to be one end 

 of the worm. When it is the middle, much fumbling occurs 

 before the chick reaches an end of the worm and swallowing 

 becomes practicable. The act of seizing an earthworm at 

 the proper place is not an immediate response till far on in 

 the 3rd week. By the nth day the chick can swallow a 

 full -sized earthworm whole. The gentle tapping of the 

 ground becomes an equally gentle probing, and fore-and-aft 

 leverage appears. The chicks attend to the food activities 

 of the parents and anticipate captures, but adjustment to 

 the movements of living prey is as yet not always perfect. 

 On the I2th day a chick was seen to spend much time chipping 

 dried and empty caddis cases off stones, and on this day 

 vertical tremor appears in probing ; lateral leverage by the 

 14th day. In the 3rd week delay in striking at moving 

 objects is well marked, serving for fixation. The chicks 

 now probe and make captures in places pointed out to them 

 by the parents, and apart from such aid are rapidly becoming 

 fairly successful shallow probers when they are able to locate 

 the food before they probe. Hammer-probing develops 

 and the art of changing the direction of successive strokes 

 of the bill without withdrawing the bill from the ground is 

 acquired. Sensory experience grows rapidly and may out- 

 strip the development of the motor apparatus, as is seen 

 when the chick locates food beyond its reach and waits until 

 the parent comes up and makes the capture. In the 4th 

 week leaves are lifted aside to expose the underlying surface 



