66 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 95 



The fourth day I left a little Hermit in the window sun- 

 ning himself. When I returned a few moments later he was 

 standing on the mantle in the shade. 



I closed both shutters of one window, left the window up, 

 and covered the ledge with fresh towels. The sun shone on 

 the outside of the blind, and the birds nestled on the linen in 

 blissful content. They fluttered and twittered for food, but 

 were really too lazy to eat much. I learned for the first time 

 that a bird sleeps a great deal with one eye open. 



Before I brought the birds home I laid in a supply of food ' 

 for them, such as pin cherries, blueberries, grasshoppers, and 

 ants' eggs. 



From the fourth to the ninth day the Thrushes developed 

 rapidly. It had occurred to me to give them a platter of 

 earth from an abandoned ant hill for a dust bath. They 

 spent much time snuggled down in the dust or in the uioss 

 of the garden. During the fifth and sixth days I fed the 

 Thrushes three ounces of steak, or one and one-half ounce? 

 a day. In this time they had also eaten considerable bread 

 and milk, fifteen helpings of banana as large as a good-sized 

 gooseberry, eighteen grasshoppers, two earthworms, three 

 spiders, eighteen blueberries, twelve flies, two wild pears, 

 four pin cherries, ten blackberries, and one-hundred-and- 

 twenty ants' eggs. In addition to this I found that some of 

 the birds were picking up blueberries and blackberries for 

 themselves. They were perfectly healthy young birds. 



As time passed I was more and more astonished to see how 

 birds in the same nest differ in ability to fly, grasp food with the 

 beak, pick up food, timidity and friendliness. One of the young 

 birds seemed very independent, often seeking a perch by him- 

 self. The others generally cuddled down together and flew 

 to the same perch. The smallest, up to the eighth day, was 

 almost powerless to grasp anything with his beak ; he relied 

 ^ At this season ants' eggs were scarce. I found them in but 

 one hill. At this date, however, the female grasshopper is very 

 nourishing, being full of eggs. See " Nature Study and Life." 

 By Hodge. 



