altricial
adj.
ModL altricialis < L altrix, a nurse, fem. of altor, one who nourishes < alere, to feed: see
OLD designating or of birds whose newly hatched young are helpless and hence confined
to the nest for some time; nidicolous: opposed to PRECOCIAL

Here's a URL with a lot of information about birds
http://www.howe.k12.ok.us/~jimaskew/bbird.htm

So altricial refers to the feeder as opposed to the feedee?

Dear WW: In reading about hummingbirds the other day, it mentioned nestlings
early developing ability to hoist their rear end up and over the edge of nest,
relieving mothers of duty of picking up fecal pellets from nest. Amazing how
such behaviour develops.

I'm reminded of cartoon I saw many years ago, of a bird nest with three fledgelings
flitting joyously above it, with one youngster sassily informing his harassed parents
"I'm going to stay here, and be a problem child."

wwh: I once saw a hummingbird's nest in Grenada. It wasn't much larger than a good-sized thimble.

The visual image of very tiny baby hummingbirds lifting their little butts over the edge of the thimble nest and dropping their little pellets--how large would those be? Are we talkin' BB's or poppyseeds?--to the ground where some intense scientist is hidden in the bush watching these proceedings is nothing short of comical.

Bird regards,
WordWatcher

Dear WW: think of how handy it would be if human babies produced nicely wrapped
pellets that mamas could pick up and dispose of without soiling fingers. Ask your
creationist friends why the Lord failed to provide this, since it was within his power.

Dear wwh,

Thank you so much for supplying this word! I'm reading a pretty good book about birds entitled:

The Human Nature of Birds by Theodore Xenophon Barber, Ph.D. There was a passage I read last night that included the word altricial and I was plumb proud of myself for understanding it immediately.

"If the newborn infant is placed on the mother's stomach for the first feeding, it appears automatically to seek the milk in the breast. Specifically, it tends to push itself forward with its legs, flails its arms, attempts to clutch with its hands, searches with its mouth....Furthermore, the human newborn's mouth opens automatically when its cheek is touched just as the altricial chick's mouth opens or 'gapes' automatically when the edge of its jaw is touched," (p. 27).

Thanks, Bill!