294 



THE A 'A Ti 'R E- STUDY RE] 'IE I V 



[2 : 9 — dec, 1906 



their young two hundred and thirty times, an average of sixteen to an 

 hour, but things had changed in four days. On the former day the 

 male brought three-quarters of all the food; now that the young 

 needed less brooding the birds seemed to vie with each other in their 

 efforts to provide a bounteous table. The male brought food one 

 hundred times and the female one hundred and thirty times, the food 

 being apparently of the same character as that of four days before. 

 Hour by hour, the feedings were recorded as follows: 



From 



100 



no 



230 



The male seldom went inside the nest, but gave the food to the 

 female if she were within, or else balanced himself on the edge of 

 the opening and reached into the nest fluttering his wings continually. 

 The female always went inside. When either bird appeared a quintet 

 of voices called lustily, and during the afternoon the young responded 

 when the male sang, as he very often did, from a neighboring pile 

 of brush. 



The female never stayed in the nest more than two or three minutes 

 at a time, and the male was ever on the alert, even while he sang 

 betimes on the brush. 



All excreta were removed by the female to a distance of fifty feet 

 or more from the nest. 



At 8.35 a.m. the female returned to the nest after fourteen minutes 

 absence, with wet feathers, indicating that she had been for a morn- 

 ingdip, at'd at 8.44 A.M. the male appeared in like condition. In the 

 afternoon, at 5.43, both birds disappeared once more, returning 

 shortly with feathers again wet, and preened just outside the nest. 



