8o THE INFANCY OF ANIMALS 



one, when a part of its bulk shall have been reduced by 

 the action of the digestive secretions. More often a fish 

 will be withdrawn that is too long for the youngster's 

 beak. In such case it is swallowed as far as it will go, 

 the rest remaining tucked away in its growing pouch 

 until enabled to pass on its way by the digestion of 

 the swallowed portion. 



Young cormorants in like manner thrust the head 

 down the throat of the parent, and withdraw whatever 

 they can grip hold of. Young herons and storks, having, 

 like their parents, dagger-like beaks, though fed by 

 regurgitation, could hardly thrust such formidable weapons 

 down one another's throats. Accordingly each opens 

 its beak to its fullest extent, and grasps the other across 

 the cheeks ; thus the mouths are brought close together 

 and the transfer of the meal is accomplished. On one 

 occasion Mr. Chapman saw an adult disgorge a fish at 

 least a foot in length ; and discovering this to be too big 

 a mouthful for its offspring, it promptly re-swallowed 

 the fish and returned to a perch near the nest to await 

 the further digestion of the fish and its consequent 

 reduction to the necessary size. 



Ornithology is full of surprises, and this matter of the 

 feeding of the young affords not the least of them. Thus it 

 is curious to learn that the first meal of the young flamingo 

 is made of the egg-shell from which it was hatched ; and 

 this is apparently for the sake of the lime it contains, 

 just as deer eat their antlers. More curious still is the 

 fact that when two or three broods are hatched during a 

 season, the young of the first brood will assist in feeding that 

 of the second — as in the case of the waterhen, for example. 



But strangest of all is the fact that among young pelicans 

 the younger broods help to feed the older, inasmuch as the 



