BLACK-POLLED WARBLER 397 



witliin 5 feet of a nest to take pictures of the adults feeding the young. 

 The female was not in the least disturbed by my presence, but the 

 male at times displayed some reluctance in coming directly to the 

 nest. Both male and female feed the young, but often the male would 

 present his mate at the nest with a larva, which she would accept 

 and in turn feed it to the young. At first small green larvae and 

 aphids were fed to the young but by the time they were 6 days old 

 spiders and large adult insects also were delivered. The nest was 

 always kept clean ; the fecal sacs were eaten or carried away as soon 

 as they appeared. As is true of many other passerine birds, the adults 

 after feeding a youngster may stimulate it with a gentle stroke of 

 their beak, causing the fecal sac to appear. 



The following observations are from the unpublished notes of Dr. 

 Herman Sweet on black-polled warblers nesting at Kent Island. On 

 June 30, 1933, three of the eggs hatched, one in the morning at 9 :40 

 a. m. the other two at 7 :45 p. m. A fourth egg, which was cracked, 

 failed to hatch and was removed by the following morning. One of 

 the three young died and was removed by Dr. Sweet on the second day. 

 At the time of hatching, the natal plumage consists of delicate tufts 

 of grayish down located on the head, humeral, crural, alar, and caudal 

 tracts. 



The first young to hatch opened its mouth widely for food as soon 

 as it was free from the egg although the adults were not present to 

 stimulate such behavior. After this occurred, both the female and 

 male arrived at the nest but neither had food for the young. The 

 male left the nest at once and the female left later, to return in 5 

 minutes without food. After brooding the lone young for 11 minutes 

 she left again and returned in 5 minutes with a green larva. The 

 larva was minced in her bill and fed to the young just 43 minutes after 

 it had left the shell. The female brooded 5 minutes then left in 

 search of more food. This procedure was repeated six times during 

 the period of observation 9 :40 to 11 :08. The female brooded 63 min- 

 utes or 71.4 percent of the time. The longest single period was 21 min- 

 utes and the shortest 5 minutes. Of the six times she left the nest 

 she returned with food four times. During observations made between 

 2 and 3 p. m. the female did not make any feedings, although she left 

 the nest occasionally. One of the remaining eggs was pipped at this 

 time. 



At 7 : 45 p. m. two more eggs had hatched and the shells had been 

 removed. At 7 : 59 the male appeared at the nest ; the female sat on 

 the rim while he fed the young a minced green caterpillar. He left 

 in 25 seconds and the female again brooded. At 8 :12 the male was 

 back again with more larvae. This time the female paid no attention 

 to his presence. The male then uttered a soft twittering sound, where- 



