304 On Rearing Hemipodes by Hand from the Egg.


The young birds of this species when first hatched are less

than two inches in length, they absolutely refuse to pick up any

food from the ground, taking everything from the bill of their

parent, and will only eat living insects.


The two babies were put into the drying box of the incu-

bator, and every half hour, from five o'clock in the morning

until dusk, they were taken out and fed with a pair of tweezers

on living ants' cocoons, small gentles, or any small grubs that

could be obtained. When first taken out of the warm chamber

and put into a box in which I fed them they would rush at one



NEWLY HATCHED YOUNG OF TURNIX VARIA.

(From The Proeeedings of the IVth International Ornithological Congress.)


another and peck vigorously at each other's beak, showing the

inborn instinct to look to the beak for food. My wife kindly

took charge when I was away, and had it not been for her help

the chicks could not have lived for many days.


When seven days old the quill feathers were well developed

in their sheathes, and then a trying time arrived, the drying box

of the incubator was too warm for them and they began to flag.

One had a fainting fit in my hand as I took it out to feed on the

eighth day, but it soon recovered and took a hearty meal.


On the ninth day the chicks were transferred to a Tamlin's

foster-mother which was put out on the lawn, and the day being

sunny and warm (almost the first sunny day we had had since



