CARE OF OFFSPRING 225 



As soon as this end is attained he makes all speed back again, 

 when he calls loudly to the young who run to meet him. As 

 soon as he alights they thrust their heads amongst the breast 

 feathers and under tail coverts, and drawing them through their 

 beaks suck out' the water they contain, moving to fresh places 

 as the supply becomes exhausted ! This most interesting 

 discovery we owe to the observations of Mr. Meade Waldo. 

 Whether the young in some way communicate their desire to 

 drink to the parents, or whether they observe signs of thirst in 

 the young, is of course a matter which cannot be determined. 



No less extraordinary is the case of the Woodcock which 

 frequently nests on high ground at some considerable distance 

 from the marshy swamps where alone food is procurable. 

 When this is the case, the parents carry the young down, at 

 dusk, from the high ground to the swamp, and bear them back 

 again at dawn, carrying them held between the legs. St. John 

 in his Highland Sports refers to this fact, and Dr. F. D. 

 Godman, an Ornithologist of wide experience, has described 

 the same habit to me in the case of Woodcocks nesting in 

 the Azores. But this appears to be the only known instance 

 among birds where the young are periodically carried from 

 place to place. 



Where the young remain long in a helpless state in the nest 

 the work of feeding is increased tenfold, entailing as it does 

 long and frequent forage for food. Nor is the physical strain 

 less when this food- is elaborated within the crop of the parent 

 and conveyed to the young by a process of regurgitation. 



Family cares weigh heavily upon all birds, but heaviest 

 upon those whose young are helpless. To feed them the fond 

 parents must rise early and work late : their toil is incessant. 

 A pair of Blue Titmice have been observed, for example, to 

 make no less than 475 journeys to the nest in the space of 

 seventeen hours. Even Sparrows, for whom little good can 

 be said, at this time excite our admiration on account of their 

 devotion to their young. While daylight lasts indeed they can 

 know but little rest, for the insatiable appetites of their callow 

 brood keep them almost ceaselessly at work. During the first 

 few days, as with other Finches, they feed their brood on insects, 

 many of them, as has been proved, extremely injurious to crops. 

 Thus for a few days in the year at any rate these pugnacious 



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