Bird Notes, Part 4, v661
Page 259
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Their excreta are still of the juvenile type. The foul odor of A's has gone. Both remain in the sack-cloth nest all the time. A's expression is alert and fearful, whereas T's is peaceful. Each had a mouse to eat during the day. They are fed with a mix- ture of soft food, young pheasant food and Hamburger steak, moist- ened and well worked up together, at intervals of an hour to two hours, provided they will take it. (i.e., voluntarily) Archie can make quite an adult rattle-boo. They are very con- versational when anyone is near them, using mostly the crane-like crooning described above. The infantile hum-buzz seems to have dis- appeared. The colors back of their eyes are becoming more distinct. Their bills are "black", unlike those of the adults and their legs and feet light, bluish slate color. (I have no charts with which to check colors). They are surprisingly like adult birds in appearance and be- havior, and scratch and preen, industriously removing the deciduous pin-feather sheathes, stretching frequently. I called the attention of a visitor to preliminary training in defense being given Bb3 by (as I supposed) Brownie. The supposed Brownie did not "look just right" at a distance of 25 feet and closer scrutiny showed that it was Bb2 with his "mane" of neck feathers. He behaved just like a parent: allowing himself to be defeated, "pulling his punches," etc. Nothing like this has been observed here before. The skirmish was discontinued by mutual consent, both part- ies remaining on the field in amicable relations. June 14th. Archie has lost his habitual fearful expression and now looks out upon the world with intense interest and seems astonished to find nature so complex. Both of them are keenly interested in flies and even minute gnats, but have not tried to catch them.