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Bird - Lore 



the old bird would get accustomed to it and not notice the camera that was 

 to be substituted later on. 



In a few days all the eggs had hatched. The young grew rapidly on their 

 diet of tent caterpillars, and several photographs were taken of the adults 

 feeding them. When the old bird returned to the nest and found me nearby, 

 she would fluff out her feathers, droop her wings, and flutter around through 

 the branches, appearing three times her normal size and kuck-kucking her 

 alarm all the while. 



Young Cuckoos are peculiar-looking little fellows, for instead of their 

 feathers growing out gradually, as is the case with other birds, they grow out 

 enclosed in a quill-like sheath. After a time these sheaths break open, and in 

 a few hours the young bird is fully feathered. I wanted very much to watch 

 this process but was disappointed, for when the young were almost old enough 

 to change, they seemed to get the wanderlust and would not stay in the nest. 

 They scrambled to the edge, hung there for a time, and finally dropped to the 

 ground. One was more precocious than the other two and caused the most 

 trouble. I found him under the nest several times by following up his call. 

 I took a picture of him in his suit of quills and placed him back in the nest. 

 When I came back the next day it was empty. 



The young also have peculiar spots in the roof of the mouth. These dis- 

 appear after a time, and no one knows whether or not they are connected 

 with some body function. 



BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO FEEDING YOUNG 

 Note the apparent pattern of marking occasioned by the sunlight and shadow 



