202 T. C. STEPHENS 



days to Jour weeks, according to the species. Furthermore, that 

 birds eating animal flesh or large insects give fresh (unregurgi- 

 tated) food to their young at a correspondingly earlier stage of 

 development than do those varieties which subsist on smaller 

 insects or seeds. Also that exclusive seed eaters are usually 

 fed by regurgitation so long as they remain in the nest." 



' Out of one hundred and eighty cases in every instance 

 where the young were hatched in a naked or semi-naked condi- 

 tion they were fed in this manner for at least three days. In 

 some instances the food was digested, wholly or in part; in 

 others it was probably swallowed merely for convenience in 

 carrying, and was regurgitated in an undigested condition." 

 There seemed to be no definite relation between the duration 

 of the period of regurgitative feeding and the length of time 

 required for full development of the young. 



Mrs. Wheelock bases her paper in The Auk upon records of 

 one hundred and eighty-seven broods (not species), in all of 

 which the observations began on the day of hatching. The 

 following families are represented in her records: Fringillidae, 

 Turdidae, Mimidae, Icteridae, Sittidae, Hirundinidae, Vireonidae, 

 etc. 



Her method consisted in watching the nest at distances vary- 

 ing from ten to forty feet, though in some cases the distance 

 may have been shorter; and in sampling the contents of the 

 crop, immediately after feeding, by the insertion of a feather, 

 and withdrawing such matter as adhered to it. 



An adequate review of this important paper would be out 

 of place in the present connection. The writer believes that 

 the conclusions stated in the paper must be substantiated by 

 repeated observations, since certain subsequent study has not 

 been wholly confirmative. 



As was suggested in Mrs. Wheelock' s paper more notes have 

 been published with reference to regurgitation in seed-eating 

 birds. Thus, Wood (21) recently makes the statement that 

 regurgitation occurs in the Goldfinch, although the evidence is 

 somewhat circumstantial. Bergtold (22), in a very compre- 

 hensive and exhaustive account of the life-history and behavior 

 of the House Finch, states that in that species the young are 

 fed by regurgitation until they leave the nest (22, p. 59). A 

 detailed description of the act of regurgitation is omitted, so 



