68 



Wild Birds. 



quired by practice. These young Vireos would often hang their heads down over the 

 nest, and doze until aroused by the piping of the Robin, or by the call of some other bird. 

 Then the mother would appear, with a huge green katydid, its wings crumpled and held 

 tightly in her sharp bill. It was surprising how quickly and gently it was assisted down 

 one of the hungry throats. 



At one of his visits the male, after cleaning the nest and young with great care, 

 stepped in and settled down to brood. In a moment two downy heads shot up from 

 under his breast, and I regretted that my camera was not loaded at the moment. 

 He showed unmistakable signs of displeasure or uneasiness, repeatedly erecting and 

 lowering his crest, and puffing out his throat. With mouth wide open he gazed keenly 

 about him, and after a few moments dashed off as if in pursuit of an enemy. 



When a large grasshop- 

 per which had been given to 

 a young bird had made good 

 its escape, the mother darted 

 after it, seized it before it had 

 touched the ground, and you 

 may be sure that there was 

 no possibility of escape this 

 time. A grasshopper was 

 sometimes divided between 

 the two young, but usually a 

 single bird only was fed at a 

 time. The male warbled his 

 pleasant strains from a branch 

 hard by, while the mother 

 hunted for insects in the 

 grass below. A large brown 



locust with yellow and black wings was soon brought in. The adult Vireos glean most 

 of their animal food from the foliage and, as might be expected, are great caterpillar de- 

 stroyers, but while feeding their young, I frequently saw them exploring the grass as any 

 Robin or Song Sparrow might do, snapping up every insect which came in their path. 



On the third day, when my tent was but eighteen inches from the nest, the old birds 

 came to it even more readily than before. They would still occasionally start at the 

 click of the shutter, but they did not mind the shrill scream of a locomotive across the 

 river, or the rumble and splash of logs which were momentarily being set free and sent 

 tumbling headlong down a steep slide into the river below. They had become used to 

 these sounds and had learned from experience that they were harmless. On this day, a 

 great change seemed to have come over the young. They had become almost trans- 

 formed in appearance, and were very restless. Their bodies were now well covered with 

 feathers, and they were beginning to show the first traces of fear. Their snow-white 

 breasts gleamed through the thin walls of their cup-shaped nest, or from over its rim. 

 Grasshoppers, katydids, green larvae, beetles, and bugs of many kinds were served again 

 and again, but it would be a mistake to suppose that there was no fruit to vary this diet. 

 Upon the third day the mother brought a ripe red raspberry, its juice fairly streaming 



Fig. 56. Bending over to feed young. 



