ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



25 



nest and placed them upon the table. Such a sorry, cold little group they 

 made. I must confess we were somewhat disappointed for they were still 

 dressed in the solemn yellow and greenish brown of their mother and did 

 not show any of the orange and black of their father. On each side of their 

 heads was a tuft of yellow down, while the feathers were about half formed. 

 Before starting to feed them we consulted a bird book and discovered 

 that Baltimore orioles ate "small insects and caterpillars," but as we 

 could not possibly find enough for three hungry babies, we tried small pieces 

 of raw steak. We put a little bit on a toothpick and held it out toward 

 the liveliest baby. Immediately his beak flew open, his clumsy little wings 

 fluttered, and he called loudly, or shall I say screeched loudly, for it. We 

 put it down below the inverted fork on his tongue and he swallowed it 

 readily. The others were fed in the same way and we gave them as much 

 as we dared. 



They stayed in a strawberry box, lined with flannel, for a day and then 

 began to fly. As we feared they might hurt themselves on some piece of fur- 

 niture, we put them in a large ring dove cage on a screened porch. For 

 two and a half weeks they stayed there, being allowed to fly around the 

 porch most of the time. 



The feeding question still bothered us. At first, for fear of over- 

 feeding them, we gave only small bits at intervals of fifteen minutes, but 

 they seemed to be continually hungry. After watching young canaries being 

 fed we tried the "cramming" method with more success for they seemed 

 to be happiest when their crops were full. Their favorite food was raw 

 meat and we gave them chiefly 

 this, but added insects when we 

 could find them, bits of lettuce, 

 dry bread, sand or ground egg 

 shell. As soon as they were fed 

 they would go to sleep on the 

 perch with a peculiar rocking or 

 rolling motion. 



In anticipation of the time 

 when they would be flying out 

 of doors before they could feed 

 themselves, we trained them to 

 come for food whenever we gave 

 a certain whistle. Then too. as 

 they grew older, we had to teach 

 them to pick up their food in- 

 stead of waiting to have it forced 

 down. 



While still on the porch they 

 became perfectly tame and would 

 alight anywhere on any of us. 

 Indeed one time the three of 

 them went to sleep on my sister's 

 hair. Perhaps the funniest sight 

 was one taking a bath in 

 a muskmelon shell half filled 

 with water. He had been pick- 



