Hubbard's poultry secrets. 23 



come near the tree, so I saw it was up to me to care for the 

 young robins. I found a can that would fit nicely on the in- 

 side of the nest. I punched some holes in the side of the can 

 for air, and left the top on to keep off the rain. I filled the 

 can with cotton batting, just so it touched their backs, placed 

 a piece of cheese cloth over the cotton so they would not get 

 it in their mouths, then placed the can over them, and left 

 them for the night. The next morning the first thing I did 

 was to go and see if the robins were dead or alive. I lifted 

 the can off the nest and found they were two of the hungriest 

 and brightest little robins I had ever seen. Every time I 

 touched the nest they would raise their heads and open their 

 mouths for something to eat. I began to wonder what I could 

 give them. The first thing I did was to dig some worms, feed 

 them, and then placed the can over them again. Their first 

 feed was at six o'clock ; at 9 o'clock I fed each one a little 

 chick food composed of hard dried grains. At 12 o'clock, I fed 

 them two worms each, at 3 o'clock I fed them chick feed, at 

 6, I again fed them two worms each and covered them up for 

 the night. The next morning they were bright and hungry 

 as ever. I fed them as I did the day before and kept up that 

 method of feeding for ten days. For eight days, everything 

 was all right and the birds grew like weeds, but the ninth day 

 I noticed that there was something wrong. On the tenth day 

 white diarrhea set in, and on the twelfth day one died and 

 on the fourteenth day the other died. 



I never had anything bother me so much in my life as to 

 think that I lost that pair of robins after I had taken so much 

 pains in feeding them. I was really lonesome for them. My 

 desire now was to find out whether I had killed them by feed- 

 ing them the worms or by feeding them the chick feed. There 

 was only one way for me to find out and that was to find an- 

 other nest of young robins. After hunting around I found 



