on Hand-Bearing British Birds.



Ill



to the owner, to capture them when adult than to bring them up hy

hand ; not that the parents suffer, as sentimentalists would have one

believe, to any great extent, when deprived of their young ; they are

indeed furious at the time, but they very speedily settle down to the

construction of a new nest ; indeed, in the case of Martins and House-

Sparrows, I have seen them at work almost immediately after the

removal of the old one ; moreover I have seen young neglected by

their parents and dying of starvation simply because the nest had

become drenched by heavy rain or because a thorn had grown

through the side, rendering it uncomfortable for the parent to settle

in it.


At the same time my advice to all bird-lovers is—Do not

attempt to stand in loco parentis to baby birds unless you have

learned, by the successes and failures recorded by others, exactly

how to treat them ; and remember that you must be content to hop

out of bed every morning at 6 a.m. to give the first meal : and that,

until the youngsters begin to get fairly lively, they will need a meal

every hour up to 9 p.m. (little and often is far better than a big

meal and stupor every two or three hours). Secondly I would

suggest that no young birds should be taken unless urgently required

for show-purposes, or as household pets : nestlings are extremely

fascinating, but this only makes one feel the deeper remorse at

having taken them, when they die young.


On the other hand, if nestling birds are brought to you which

you have not asked for, as was the case with not a few of those

which found their way to me, or if from any other cause the lives of

young birds are threatened, by all means do your utmost to bring them

up by hand, and may good luck attend your efforts.


Of birds which came into my hands soon after they had left

the nest I cannot boast: I kept them for a time, but they died

young.



