Ａn adventure by a baby swallow
A few days ago, in the evening, some one rang the bell at the
door.
There stood a young girl, a member of our clinic, bringing me a baby swallow.
She said that he had seated on the fence of the third floor of her
apartment house.
She thought he had fallen down from the nest.
I looked at that baby swallow closely. His primaries looked already
long enough to fly. It reached to his rump. But the shape of his tail wasn't
perfect as an adult.
I guessed he had not fallen down from his nest, but he just started to fly and
took a little rest on the fence. Then, that girl must have caught him.
I decided to let him back to where he was caught next morning.
It has already got dark.
"Are you hungry?" He looked very tired of. I tried to let
him take some food.
But he wouldn't open his mouth.
I called for some advises to Mr. Takahashi, a volunteer for
protecting wild birds and animals. He answered that once a swallow knew who is
his parent, then, he never open his mouth by himself to anyone besides his
parent to take some food.
Oh, no!
I tried to let his mouth open by force and succeeded to put some worms
into his throat. After half an hour or so, he got well.
Next morning, he looked better than before. And I was surprised to see
his primaries getting longer. The shape of his tail got sharper.
I gave him two more worms.
I took him to the apartment house where he was caught last evening. I put
him on my finger and let him up so that some one could see him well.
Then, another swallow flew to him. She made hovering just in front of
him. She called to him softly and flew away. Next moment, that baby swallow left
my finger and followed her.
It was really amazing! My heart was filled with a lot of joy.
to Dr.Fukada