76 THE INFANCY OF ANIMALS 



parents are necessary to keep the brood from starvation. 

 Among some species these insects are " pouched," that 

 is to say, they are carried in the mouth, forming more 

 or less of a bolus. But commonly they are held in the 

 beak ; and how birds like starlings and wagtails, for 

 example, contrive to gather together a huge beakful of 

 tiny insects is a mystery : for the victims must be caught 

 with the beak, singly ; and one would have imagined 

 that the opening of the beak after the first victim had 

 been gripped, would have meant losing the captive. 



The puffins, among fish-eating birds, are alone capable 

 of performing a similar feat, which is even more mysterious, 

 for they wiU carry half a dozen small fish, the heads all 

 ranged in one directi(5fi, from the sea to the nest with 

 every journey. With such a slippery prey, the feat of 

 catching and keeping six fish in succession seems impossible 

 of achievement — but not to the puffin. 



Of late years our knowledge of the Passerine birds 

 during the trying period of rearing a family has increased 

 immensely, and this is largely, if not entirely, due to the 

 amazing zeal of bird photographers like Miss E. L. Turner, 

 Mr. R. B. Lodge, Mr. W. Bickerton, and the Keartons. 

 During hours of patient waiting, which all must undergo 

 if they desire success, they have seen much that in all 

 probability would else never have been recorded. In 

 many cases they have shown that the two sexes bring 

 different kinds of food. With the stonechat, for example, 

 the female apparently brings small prey, generally spiders, 

 but sometimes butterflies and moths, while the male 

 selects large caterpillars. 



Miss Turner tells an amusing story of a scene she saw 

 enacted on the edge of the nest of a red-backed shrike. 

 The male had brought to the nest a young bird, and 



