PACKING AND SENDING AWAY: NURSING. 



29 



has got too thick, or, not beuig used, has ceased 

 in the crop, I do not know. Anyhow, the fact 

 remains that if foster parents are to be a success 

 the strange eggs or young ones given into their 

 care must be almost exactly the same age as their 

 own would have been, or they will not thrive. 



You may soon tell if an egg is fertile or not, for 

 as the young bird develops in the shell it will 

 grow darker, and the egg heavier. An egg that 

 is nearly due to hatch may be left for quite a long 

 time unsat on till it is quite cold, and still hatch 

 if the parent bird returns to the nest, because the 

 life in it is so much stronger than in that of a 

 newly-laid egg, to which a short spell of cold is 

 fatal. 



There is one point more I should mention. 

 When a young dove leaves the nest (through being 

 startled) just a day or two before it should have 

 done, do not attempt to put it back, for a young 

 bird at this stage will never stay in the nest if it 

 has once left it, and, besides, you run the risk of 

 making the second young one — if there is one — 

 jump out, too, and possibly it may injure itself 

 in doing so. Also, do not make any attempt to 

 clean out the nest or put fresh heather in it whilst 

 the voung are still inside, even though the nest has 

 got very dirtv. A Barbary dove might not mind 

 your doing this, but other and more nervous birds 

 will not stand interference. 



Though so verv ugly in their first stages, young 

 doves are most beautiful little things when they 

 leave the nest. There is an innocent look in their 

 dark eyes that is only seen in very young animals 

 and birds, when the world is as yet a strange and 

 wonderful place to them. Even at this early age 

 they show their fear of man, and they will raise 

 their tiny wings at you to strike and defend them- 

 selves. Mr. Teschemaker has just caught this 

 attitude and expression in his beautiful photo- 

 graph of a voung Dwarf Ground Dove. I have 

 never kept this bird, but have availed myself of 

 the very kind offer of permission to use the plate, 

 because I have never seen so typical a study of 

 a )"Oung dove before as in this charming picture. 



CHAPTER III. 



PACKING AND SENDING AWAY, AND 

 NURSING IN SICKNESS AND ACCIDENT. 



I ALWAYS pack any birds I send away myself. 

 At one time I used travelling box cages with wire 

 fronts, but now I use clean empty boxes instead. 

 There is no fear of muslin or paper being torn, as 

 is often done to the front of travelling cages in 

 transit, for people will be curious, and a label with 

 "Live birds" on seems at once to produce excite- 

 ment as to what may be inside. Now, in an ordi- 



nary closed box there is only the air hole to peep 

 through, and that reveals very little, the bird takes 

 no chill, and the receiver of the bird need not be 

 troubled to return the box, as it is not worth it. 



Clean wooden boxes can be had for id. from any 

 grocer. Choose one the size you want — do not 

 have it too large, but be sure it is deep enough to 

 allow the bird to stand upright when on the perch 

 — knock the dust out of your box and remove any 

 splinters, and take out any nails that may be in the 

 lid. Now saw off two of the top corners of the 

 front of the box or two of the front corners of the 

 lid — not too large pieces, just enough to make 

 sufficient air-holes. A piece of a broom handle 

 makes a good perch. Saw it just the width of the 

 box, and when you have lined the bottom of the 

 inside of the box with brown paper, slip your 

 perch in, and press it well down to the bottom so 

 that it rests on it. The perch is now secured by a 

 nail at each end, hammered in from the outside. 

 It is not a bad plan to hammer vour nails just 

 through the box first, then slip in 3-our perch so 

 that it comes over the nail points, and then 

 hammer your nails home. 



You can either put some soaked bread loose in 

 the box, or you can put it in a little tin drinker, 

 the kind that can be bought for a few pence the 

 dozen. In either case, put jour bread in to soak 

 first thing, so that by the time you have done the 

 air-holes and the perch your bread will be ready, 

 for if it is to be of any use it must take up plenty 

 of water. If you use a drinker, fix it in this way : 

 Straighten out its wire hooks, mark in pencil the 

 width between them on the outside of the box, 

 make two holes through with a pricker, place the 

 drinker in position inside the box (the hooks being 

 through the holes), and hammer down the project- 

 ing wire ends of the drinker on the outside. In 

 this way the tin will keep quite steady. A'ou have 

 now only to put a handful or two of seed into the 

 box, and gum on the label, and your box is readv 

 for its occupant. The labels I use were printed 

 (in large red letters) at our stationer's, and are 

 gummed at the back. They are headed like this : 



URGENT.— THIS SIDE UP. 



LIVE BIRDS 



Date ^ 

 Train. 



the blank space being left for the address, date, 

 and train, to be filled in. Besides this label I also 

 tie on another on the string round the box. Cut 

 your length of string off, put out ready the short 



