TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 355 



worms and berries around the base of the cage, outside 

 the wires, to show good intentions, and we shall have 

 the pleasure of seeing the parent birds coming regularly 

 to feed its occupant. In two or three days the wings 

 will be strong enough to try again, and if the bird can 

 fly and has sense enough to take refuge in the trees, it 

 may be given its liberty. 



Any one who has once reared a young bird by hand, 

 even from the time it leaves the nest until it is able to 

 shift for itself, will appreciate the fact that we should leave 

 this work to the parent birds whenever possible. Still an 

 experience of this sort is a revelation of the mysteries of 

 bird life. 



The first thing we learn is that a nestling does not 

 know how to feed itself. We may pile all sorts of ber- 

 ries and worms around it, but it simply sits and clamors 

 for food. Innumerable young birds have died of starva- 

 tion at this juncture in the hands" of well-meaning chil- 

 dren, much to their discouragement, simply because they 

 did not think how young and ignorant their pensioners 

 really were. The bird is probably not more than twelve 

 or fourteen days out of the eggshell ; and for those few 

 days it has sat in the nest, with nothing to do but to 

 open its mouth and swallow what its parents put into it. 

 Suddenly it sees the wide world around it. Its mouth 

 has always been so wide open that it could not see what 

 was being put into it. How is it to know berries or 

 worms or to know how to get them into its bill ? I am 

 convinced from careful study of a number of young birds 

 of different species that the day they leave the nest they 

 do not know either of these things, and how could we 



