six weeks ago at Horizons Cottages.

Golf pro at Horizons, Edwin Jackson, said the three tiny birds were about to be mowed over by a truck when he found them outside his workshop at the hotel.

And now, six weeks later, the three birds "can be picked like flowers'' and faithfully return home when Mr. Jackson and his wife, Jane, tap a dish. "I took them home, nest and all,'' said Mr. Jackson. "We fed them sugar, milk and bread for the first two days, and they lived on a heating pad on the dining room table.'' But after contacting an ornithologist friend in Vancouver, the couple were told that the birds needed protein and set them on a new diet of cat food and Ensure, the fortified liquid food supplement.

"We were told not to get too close to the birds, to feed them with droppers,'' said Mrs. Jackson.

"But of course, we did it all wrong and cuddled them.'' And the three birds became so accustomed to their new surroundings that the Jacksons can't seem to get rid of them.

"We tried to set the first one free ten days ago,'' said Mr. Jackson. "But he just came back.'' In fact, Fred, Freddie and Fredericka, as the three are called, may become Bermuda's first lifelong pet Kiskadees. The Jacksons have been told that at least two of them may require feeding for life because of deformed legs which would make it difficult for them to survive in the wild.

Every day Mr. Jackson lets the birds out of their cage, but they never go more than 75 yards.

"I suppose they might want to go looking for a mate one day,'' he said.

The birds are kept in a cage on loan from the Aquarium which protects them from the Jacksons' two cats, one of which takes particular fancy to flying things.

"One of the cats even sleeps on the top of the cage and (temporarily) caught one of them,'' said Mrs. Jackson.

"The other just looks at the birds, but doesn't bother them.'' The Jacksons even gave the birds flying lessons, but "they seemed to pick it up on their own.'' "We would toss them towards the peach tree and each time they would go a little further until they were able to fly to a branch,'' said Mr. Jackson.

"They had a little difficulty landing and taking off from the ground, but they're able to get going from our arms.'' Love for three little birds "(Other) Kiskadees come into the yard and they are beginning to pick it up from them,'' she said.

"The wild ones even try and feed the little ones in the cage. We've also recorded the sound for them and one has just about got the sound. The others only just tweet.'' "It's been wonderful to watch them take off,'' added her husband.

"It's an incredible feat to have kept them alive for this long.'' Tamed: A Kiskadee has found a new perch on Edwin Jackson's shoulder.