The Cedar Hircl. 



55 



three tii four feet. ( >u returning to the spot two days later, I \vas pleased to find that all had 

 gone well. After yetting the tent up it was not many minutes before a low-murmured 

 tr-c-c-c-c-k ! or zc-f-c-c-t ! was heard, to which the young always responded in a similar 

 strain. Approaching cautiously with throat loaded to the brim with choke cherries, the 

 mother bird delivered them one by one, and then inspected and cleaned her household. 



After a longer interval the pair came and stood on the edge of the nest. There was 

 nothing in their bills, but 

 their gullets were crammed 

 full of blueberries, and 

 after tantalizing the suppli- 

 cating young for a mo- 



& J o 



ment, up went a head, and 

 presto! out came a berry, 

 which was quickly placed 

 in an open throat, and 

 passed around until it was 

 promptly swallowed. Up 

 went the head again, and 

 the performance was re- 

 peated. It was like a ma- 

 gician shaking eggs from a 

 bag, and there seemed to 

 be no limit to its capacity. 

 Many who have witnessed 

 such actions have supposed 

 that the old birds were 

 attempting to distribute 

 the food without partiality 

 to their hungry children, 

 but this is not the case. It 

 is all a question of nervous 

 reaction. The food is not 

 simply placed in the mouth 

 but pressed well down into 

 the sensitive throat, which 

 promptly responds unless 

 the gullet is already full. 



The old bird watches the result intently, and if the food is not taken at once it is passed 

 from one to another until a throat with the proper reaction time is found. The move- 

 ments of the bird are so rapid, and the berry is so often quickly withdrawn, that it is 

 difficult to make an accurate count. Usually from six to eleven blueberries and almost 

 as many choke cherries are thus carried in the gullet. Wilson, who noticed the disten- 

 sibility of the gullet of this bird, which will take from twelve to fifteen cedar berries at 

 a time, thought that it served as a crop to prepare the food for digestion. The berries 

 and insects, it is true, often come up crushed to a pulp and reeking with slime, but it is 



Fig- 37- Tantalizing the young. The mother Cedar-bird has come with food, 

 but hesitates to advance and deliver it. Compare with Fig. 38. 



