Kingbird WESTERN BIRDS 



The female did all the brooding but the male was 

 never far away, and when she left the nest to forage — 

 for he did not feed her — he always flew nearby and 

 guarded. Always when either bird returned to the nest 

 pole from foraging, the guarding bird set up a noisy 

 Whita, whita, fluttering the wings in ecstasy and some- 

 times giving little jumps from the pole in his, or her, 

 delight. They said as plainly as if they could talk, 

 "Oh, my dear, I am so glad you are safely back." All 

 during the brooding, and when the young were being fed, 

 this pretty exhibition of loyalty was kept up. 



Though the male Kingbirds do not brood, they seem 

 to take a paternal interest in the treasures in the nest. 

 More than once I have seen the Arkansas male, when 

 his mate had left the nest, fly onto the wire that was 

 just above it and look down into it. He seemed so 

 human in his interest. 



For two weeks the eggs were brooded and then both 

 birds were kept busy feeding. Sometimes both were on 

 the edge of the nest at once. Usually they found food 

 near the pole, but sometimes excursions were taken some 

 distance away. One bird, however, always stayed near 

 and guarded the nest. 



Even when the birds were only a day old the birds 

 would fly through the air and go directly and feed, which 

 looked as if they did not always feed by regurgitation. 

 It is quite likely that the tiny insects fed were carried 

 in the throat and mouth, as the birds caught them, and 

 were fed from there, rather than from the crop, as in 

 regurgitation. 



At one nest where I watched the old birds made 39 

 trips with food in one hour, the shortest interval being 

 three-fourths of a minute; the longest being four and 

 one-half minutes. This was when the young were two 

 weeks old. Assuming that the birds carried two insects 

 each trip (which was probably a small estimate), and 



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