WESTERN BIRDS Bush-Tit 



It was the twenty-first of March before brooding be- 

 gan and it was all done by the female, the male coming 

 occasionally to the nest, when his mate joined him in a 

 foraging tour, but she never left the eggs long alone. 

 Even after brooding had begun they carried in building 

 material, seeming never to feel that the nest was really 

 finished. 



When two weeks of this brooding by the female had 

 elapsed, I went to the nest, expecting to see both birds 

 busy feeding, for I knew from previous observations, 

 that no time was spent in loafing about after the nest- 

 lings were hatched. I have one feeding record of thirty- 

 five times in one hour; and another of forty-six times in 

 sixty minutes — the shortest interval being one-half 

 minute; the longest, five and one-half minutes. 



You can, perhaps, imagine my surprise when I found 

 that the birds were taking more building material into 

 the nest, instead of food. I was at a loss to know just 

 what it could mean. Two days later the pair were still 

 carrying in building material, making it evident to the 

 observer, as plainly as if they had been able to tell it, 

 that there were no young in the nest. 



The tree where the nest hung was a magnificent old 

 oak which I had worked hard to prevent the owner from 

 cutting down to make room for a bungalow. Though 

 the tree was spared, my protest against trimming all the 

 grace and beauty out of it had been of no avail — and 

 in the trimming the nest was taken down. For a day I 

 left it hanging in our yard, hoping that the birds might 

 come over, as they had been doing almost daily, and so 

 resume family affairs; but, when they did not do so, I 

 took it down and opened it for investigation. 



I found two small pinkish eggs which lay about three 

 inches below the opening and were quite evidently the 

 beginning of another set, which the cutting down of the 

 nest had stopped. I had felt, when I found the birds 

 carrying material into the nest, instead of food, that 



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