Evening star., 1949-05-14
This and That
By Charles E. Tracepell

If you find baby bird fallen out of the
nest, you will want some expert advice.
There is man down at the National
Geological Park who knows all about birds
young as well as old.
He is Malcolm Davis, in charge of the
feathered folk there
Mr.. Dayis has the following advice to
First endeavor to find the nest from
which the bird has fallen. ,.
Pick the bird up and attempt to return
it to its family.
Bear in mind that young bird is dell
cate organism. Before handling 1T. warm
the hands, so that they are approximately
the body temperature of the bird!
BE gentle, cup your hands. for the bones
OF the body are not as yet fully developed,
and pressure may cause pain and permanent
injury.
IF it is impossible to locate its nest, then
one should attempt to feed and care for the
youngster This requires an understanding
of the baby bird and a constant routine
Of feeding.
when young hatch. they are not fed i'm
mediately. The common method of feeding
is that of the old bird putting its beak, con-
tanning food, far down into the throat Of
the young.
This prevents any live insects from escap-
ing, With all birds there is a nervous
adjustment which prevents the overfeeding
of the young.
Birds do not feed their young in rotation.
as one might expect, but feed the hungriest
one first, and continue to feed him until
some other one gets hungrier and stretches
its neck forth and cries louder.
This might result In overfeeding the
largest young, but fortunately when the
young bird has enough, its throat muscles
refuse to work. So after each feeding, the
old bird looks down into the throat Of the
young one. and If the last bug Is not
promptly swallowed, she takes 1t out again
and gives it to one Of the other young.
Most of the perching birds, such as the
robin. sparrow and crow, will thrive upon the
following mixture:
"Mix.together equal parts of pablum, yolk
OF hard-boiled egg, cooked liver and raw
hamburger
Roll this meal into small balls and insert
them into the throat of the young bird.
"A toothpick for tiny birds and tweezers
for the larger serve as implements of feeding.
"The secret of maintaining life in bird
is to feed 1t little but often.
Every half hour during the daylight
hours is necessary routine, for the
youngster will be continuously stretching his
neck and opening his cavernous mouth in
anticipation of meal.
Also strive to initiate the nest conditions
by keeping the young bird warm and pro-
tected in quite the same manner that the
brooding adult parent birds would
1t is shame that nature has not provided
some such arrangement for adult humans
so that when they tend to eat too much
their throats would contract and they could
not swallow another bitel
II such were the human fashion. there
would be no overweight. and thousands of
persons would escape. perhaps. the diseases
that tend to take toll of the unwary eaters.
The baby birds have the best of 1t, In this
respect.
Mr.. Davis has given a good bill Of particu-
lars It Is not often that kind d-hearted
person has TO bring up more than one bird
at time. This makes the problem simpler
all around.
Feeding every half hour is chore. In
most cases. every hour will be enough. we
believe during the daylight hours
Separate foods. such as those named. may
be fed separately. rather than as mixture.
Water should be given with a medicine
dropper before each feeling.
Small worms and insects. the uglier the
better, may be offered at an early age. II
always amazes a human what terrible look
ing things bird can eat. By eating this live
food, the young bird also gets all the earth
1t needs No attempt should be made TO feed
Il grit.
When the bird first makes attempts TO ny.
live food should be placed at Its feet. In
this way, 1t learns TO pick UP food for itself,
habit which win stand It In good stead Tor
ths rest of tts life.