Chemical composition of growth in nestling blackbirds and thrushes

Abstract

1. The bodies of twenty-three nestling blackbirds and twenty-one nestling thrushes were analysed at different ages for water, fat, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium and magnesium. These birds grow from a weight of 5 g at hatching to 70 and 50 g respectively when they leave the nest 12–13 d later.2. The concentration of N in the bodies doubled, while Ca increased seven to eight times during this period, so that the total amount of Ca in the body increased by about 100 times.3. The femurs of the newly hatched birds were very immature and contained little Ca or collagen but in the fledgelings the femurs were as well calcified as those of 17-d-old chicks.4. The gastro-intestinal tracts of the birds contained large amounts of Ca. Their food consists of caterpillars, adult insects and earthworms, none of which have much Ca in their tissues but their gut contents may contain much Ca. It is suggested that it is the gut contents of these invertebrates that provide nestling birds with Ca.