YOUNG BIRDS IN THE NURSERY 79 



in the account, for large numbers of animals — from fishes 

 to mammals — make equally long fasts to avoid either 

 extremes of heat or cold ; and in every case they are 

 sustained by accumulations of fat. The hump of the 

 camel is a reserve of fat to be used during enforced fasts. 



The nestlings of the stork tribe, and of their distant 

 relations the gannets, cormorants, pplicans and their 

 kin, afford some interesting illustrations of young birds 

 , which are fed by regurgitation. Young pelicans are fed 

 ;' at first with partly digested fish, the meal being brought 

 up and emptied into the front part of the pouch of the 

 adult, and from thence it is scooped up by the youngsters. 

 But when about three weeks old these youngsters — two 

 or three in a brood — ^which have then gained their coat 

 of woolly down, no longer need the pre-digested nourish- 

 ment, and, remarks Mr. Chapman of the young of the 

 brown pelican, they " extend their feeding excursions 

 into the throat of the patient parent, finding there 

 entire fish, which, in some inexplicable manner, they 

 generally swallow before withdrawing their head. 

 Two and even three young will thus actively pursue 

 their search for food at the same time, and only their 

 extended and fluttering wings seem to keep them from 

 disappearing in the depths of the cavernous parental 

 pouch. Not for a moment do they stop their high-voiced 

 squealing, and the rise and fall of their partly muffled 

 screams indicate the nature of their success in . getting 

 food." 



At times a youngster is in perilous danger of 

 choking, having caught hold of a fish too large for his 

 gullet: but the parent speedily comes to the rescue by 

 removing the fish and swallowing it herself once more, 

 to be placed later at the disposal of the disappointed 



