THE FOOD OF YOUNG ANIMALS 195 



Helpless condition, the young are fed from the beginning. Since 

 the young of birds are either fed or watched by the parents, they 

 have the racial habit of confidence, and the new-hatched young 

 or the fledglings of even the shyest or fiercest of birds are all perfectly 

 ready to be fed by human beings, and only acquire their dread of 

 man when they are grown up. All that is necessary is to know 

 their habits, or to find out by experiment whether the food must be 

 thrown down for them to pick up or actually put into their mouths, 

 and they themselves assist by showing what they want. Most 

 birds that are hatched in a nearly naked condition must have the 

 food put in their mouths, and this applies also to most shore-birds 

 and aquatic birds, whilst most of the ground-birds and game-birds 

 pick it up for themselves. 



I do not know of any instances in which the young of reptiles 

 are actually fed by their parents. They are hatched or bom in an 

 active condition, and very quickly begin to eat on their own account. 

 jBy far the greatest number of them are carnivorous, and when 

 they are small should be supplied with worms or grubs, very 

 small fish or frogs, or strips of meat cut into worm-like shapes, or 

 eggs broken open or even hard boiled and broken up. A few of 

 the lizards and the land tortoises are vegetarian and will eat fruit, 

 berries, lettuce and other green food, but even these will take also 

 slugs and grubs, particularly when they are young. 



Reptiles are rather capricious feeders, especially in captivity, and 

 the difficulty is the greater because they all are able to fast for very 

 long periods without coming to harm, and it is not easy to know 

 'at what point it is necessary to take active steps to make them 

 feed. It is certain, however, that young reptiles, hke any other 

 young animals, cannot abstain from food for so long as fully grown 

 animals ; and especially when winter is approaching, a time when 

 ;the natural vitality of reptiles is at an ebb, it is necessary to see 

 that they begin their usually long fast with some good meals. 

 The vegetable feeders should be tempted with as many different 

 kinds of green food as can be obtained, until something that they 

 will take is found. Green leaves of clover are taken most readily 

 by small tortoises, and pieces of banana by vegetarian lizards. 

 A friend of mine told me that he had found out that if an obdurate 

 tortoise were put on its back, when it struggled to the right position 

 again it seemed to have been so surprised that it forgot its 

 former unwiUingness and meekly began to feed at once. I have 

 tried this device myself, but with very infrequent success. Small 



