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Bird -Lore 



he be forced to leave it during this period he evidently can find his way 

 back. An accompanying photograph shows a chick climbing up into its 

 nest with the aid of bill and wings. This nest was within ten feet of my 

 blind, and on my approach the chick jumped out and ran away. After I 

 had concealed myself the parent returned and, apparently in response to its 

 calls, the young one appeared, and was soon snugly nestling beneath the 

 maternal or paternal wing. 



While in the nest, the chick, as described in ' The Century ' article, is 

 fed first by regurgitation, taking its food drop by drop from the tip of the 



NEWLY HATCHED FLAMINGO IN A PARTLY FLOODED NEST, AN EXHAUSTED YOUNG BIRD, 

 WHICH HAD LEFT THE NEST, AND A PIPPED EGG 



parent's bill, and it also eats the shell of the egg from which it was hatched; 

 this apparently is an invariable rule. Even after leaving the nest the chick 

 is still fed for a time by the parent, which doubtless also induces it to pick 

 up a living of its own. 



It is an exceedingly interesting fact that the bill of the young Flamingo 

 is straight and wholly unlike the singular, bent bill of the adult. Signs of 

 a Roman nose, so to speak, first appear when the chick is about two weeks 

 old, and at this time he begins to feed after the manner of adults. That is, 

 the upper mandible is held almost parallel with the ground, and even pressed 

 into the muddy bottoms on which the birds feed. It is then moved rapidly 

 and sends a jet of water through the bill which washes away the sand or 

 mud taken in with the food. Like the old bird, the young one now often 



