TWO COMMON BIRDS 



small the old thrushes managed this by 

 swallowing their droppings, but as the nestlings 

 get older they simply carry them off and let 

 them fall at a distance. The excreta of all 

 young birds that are brought up in nests is 

 coated for the purpose with a slimy covering 

 which will not stick to anjrthing, so the old 

 birds can clean out the nursery without any 

 fear of getting in a mess. 



I have said that young thrushes and young 

 blackbirds are fed entirely on earth-worms, 

 but these are not the great fat worms that the 

 birds get on the lawns in the early morning, but 

 smaller red ones, which I believe they find by 

 hunting about among decaying leaves under 

 the trees — at any rate I have never seen any- 

 thing else brought, and I have watched thrushes 

 at the nest for hours at a time. What hungry 

 youngsters the babies are ; it does not matter 

 how often they are fed, they are always ready 

 for more. Even if they have been fed only a 

 second before, their heads will pop up and their 

 beaks be open wide on feeling the slightest shake 

 of the nest. They keep their unfortunate 

 parents hard at work from daybreak to dusk, 

 only allowing them to slacken for a little 

 while at mid-day. Or maybe what really 



D 49 



