Evening star., 1948-05-22

II picked up baby robin the other day, and
am bringing it up, at this writing, but would
like to know why always find young robins,
and not birds Of other kinds.
"Is there something about the baby robin
that causes it to tumble out Of the nest? Is its
coordination poor, or has it less brains than
other birds?
yours truly, E. D."
No, 1t is not less brains, but more ambition
More robins are found on the ground, in this
way, than the young of other species, probably
because of the surge of life in the robin
family.
Any one watching Nav or Paw Robin on the
lawn, garnering breakfast, will understand.
Here is vigorous, restless creature, whose
babies might be expected to take after him
and they do.
But that is not all.
The robin nest, while 1t cannot be called
a poor affair, is on the fiat side.
It Is easier for . baby robin to tumble out
than for the baby in nest more cup-shaped.
Perhaps it is fortunate thing that the baby
bird most likely to be found on the ground is,
after all, this same spotted-breast robin. He
is wonderfully friendly.
That breast, by the way, shows that the
bird belongs to the thrush family.
1t is not robin at least in the sense
that it is any relation to the English robin,
the little robin redbreast" We heard so much
about in childhood.
looked in vain for the small, real robin that
came to take crumbs from the children,s table.
When they saw the big fellow we today call
the robin, they instantly spoke Of him as "the
robin" and such he remains to this day.
But II you see a baby robin, you will recog-
nize him by his spots, and by those same
splotches you will know that he Is blood cousin
to the wood thrush, the hermit thrush, and all
the others of this group
Next to the young robins, probably more
baby jays tumble to the earth than the young
Of any other species.
This is because the baby jay is buster, In .
very real sense.
He is always trying to get out and away.
When he falls, the parent birds gather
around, but they, in common with other
species, have no way of lifting the fallen.
That Is an unfortunate fact in bird life.
When baby falls, it stays out Of the nest,
unless some kind hearted human finds 1t and
Is able to put it back.
If this does not happen, the bird must take
its chances on the ground. The parents will
bring food and guard 1t as best they can, but
the creature runs every chance of destruction
at the hands of wandering animals.
Baby cardinals are . handful.
They are three times As much trouble to
raise as baby robins.
They are really wild BIRDS
An adult cardinal is almost impossible to
handle, even when wounded.
=
All young birds are raised In the same way,
and with the same foods.
They are fed every hour and given . few
medicine droppers Of water before eating.
The foods used are ground or scraped beef.
bits of liver excellent for vitamins), very small
earthworms small beetles and the like, bread
and milk, and yolk Of hard boiled egg.
There are no feelings from dusk to dawn.
If feeding is missed no particular harm will
be done. The young bird is fed each time all
it will eat. That one is easy, for when it gets
enough, it closes its throat, and food cannot
even be forced down.
few bits of raisin may be used, now and
then, but not too often. The bird should have
access to dirt ut which 1t learns to peck early.