ng, sitting, and
hatching, surely they deserve the reward of bringing up their little
babes.

Too often when boys thus take a nest they simply let the young birds
starve to death from ignorance as to their proper food and not rising
early enough to feed them.

It is a different matter if, out of a family of six, one takes two to
bring up by hand--the labour of the old birds is lightened, and four
fledglings will sufficiently reward their toil.

The birds should be taken before they are really feathered, just when
the young quills begin to show, as at that stage they will not notice
the change in their diet and manner of feeding. They need to be
carefully protected from cold, kept at first in a covered basket in
flannel, and if the weather is cold they should be near a fire, as they
miss the warmth of the mother bird, especially at night.

I confess it involves a good deal of trouble to undertake the care of
these helpless little creatures. They should be fed every half-hour,
from four in the morning until late in the evening, and that for many
weeks until they are able to feed themselves.

The kind of food varies according to the bird we desire to bring up, and
it requires care to make sure that it is not too dry or too moist, and
that it has not become sour, or it will soon prove fatal, for young
birds have not the sense of older ones--they take blindly whatever is
given them.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: STARLINGS.]

DICK THE STARLING.

Few people would think a cat could possibly be a tender nurse to young
birds! but such was really the case with a very interesting bird I
possessed some years ago.

A young starling was brought up from the nest by the kind care of our
cook and the cat! Both were equally sympathetic, and pitied the little
unfledged creature, who was by some accident left motherless in his
early youth. Cook used to get up at some unheard-of hour in the morning
to feed her clamorous pet, and then would bring him down with her at
breakfast-time and consign him to pussy's care; she, receiving him with
a gentle purr of delight, would let him nestle into her soft fur for
warmth.

As Dick became feathered, he was allowed the run of the house and
garden, and used to spend an hour or so on the lawn, digging his beak
into the turf, seeking for worms and grubs, and when tired he would fly
in at the open window and career about until he could perch on my
shoulder, or go in search of his t