98 WAKE-ROBIN 



feet from the ground. At intervals of scarcely a 

 minute, the old birds, one after another, would 

 alight upon the edge of the hole with a grub or 

 worm in their beaks ; then each in turn would make 

 a bow or two, cast an eye quickly around, and by a 

 single movement place itself in the neck of the 

 passage. Here it would pause a moment, as if to 

 determine in which expectant mouth to place the 

 morsel, and then disappear within. In about half 

 a minute, during which time the chattering of the 

 young gradually subsided, the bird would again 

 emerge, but this time bearing in its beak the ordure 

 of one of the helpless family. Flying away very 

 slowly with head lowered and extended, as if anx- 

 ious to hold the offensive object as far from its 

 plumage as possible, the bird dropped the unsavory 

 morsel in the course of a few yards, and, alighting 

 on a tree, wiped its bill on the bark and moss. 

 This seems to be the order all day, — carrying in 

 and carrying out. I watched the birds for an hour, 

 while my companions were taking their turn in 

 exploring the lay of the land around us, and noted 

 no variation in the programme. It would be curi- 

 ous to know if the young are fed and waited upon 

 in regular order, and how, amid the darkness and 

 the crowded state of the apartment, the matter is 

 so neatly managed. But ornithologists are all silent 

 upon the subject. 



This practice of the birds is not so uncommon 

 as it might at first seem. It is indeed almost an 

 invariable rule among all land birds. With wood- 



