LAZULI BUNTLNG 121 



3 eggs on June 24. These hatched on July 6 and the young left the 

 nest on July 16. I. G. \Vheelock (1912) gives the nest period as 15 

 days unless the young are distiu-bed. At one nest observed by 

 Hjersman at the Basting's Natural History Keservation, the eggs 

 hatched on July 17, 1939, and the young left the nest on July 28, the 

 12th day. 



The female is always active in caring for the young, feeding, brood- 

 ing, and shading the nestlings as necessary. The role of the male is 

 variable; in some cases he appears to take no active part, in others he 

 gives some assistance. From a total of 124 hours of observation at 

 fom- different nests at the Hasting's Reservation the following infor- 

 mation was obtained: At the nest observed by Hjersman mentioned 

 above, no male was found associated with it from the start of obser- 

 vations which began a few days before the eggs hatched. In this case 

 all the care was given by the female. At a second nest observed by 

 Hjersman during the first 4 days after hatching, the female fed 47 

 times to 12 for the male, or 80 percent of the feedings. At a third nest 

 observed by Chattin on the third to fifth days of nestling hfe, the 

 female fed 165 times to the male's 43, or 82 percent of the times. At 

 a fourth nest watched by Gray, observations on the 2d and 3d days 

 showed 47 feedings by the female and none by the male; on the 7th 

 and 8th days it was 122 to 3, and on the 11th day 30 to 0, or a total of 

 199 times for the female to 3 for the male. 



On the first day of nestling life, the average number of feedings was 

 2.6 times per hour at three nests. On subsequent days, the average 

 number of feedings per hour increased as follows: 2d day, 3.6; 3d, 

 4.8; 4th, 5.9; 6th, 7.2; 7th, 7.6; 8th, 8.5; 9th, 9.2; 10th, 10.9; 11th, 11.0. 

 Usually only a single young is fed at each visit. The principal food 

 is young grasshoppers, although large larvae are used to a considerable 

 extent and occasionally a beetle or some other type of insect. These 

 items all appear to be relatively large and difficult for the young to 

 swallow, or else the young are well fed and not ready to take more. 

 Observers report that the adult commonly presents an item to a young, 

 retrieves it if it is not swallowed and offers it agam, often three or four 

 times before it is swallowed. Fifteen or more such presentations to 

 one or more young have been observed before the item is successfully 

 taken. Occasionally the female, after a series of unsuccessful tries, 

 eats the item herself. E. L. Kinsey reports the feeding of small nest- 

 Hngs by regurgitation, but this was not reported at the nests observed 

 at the Hasting's Reservation. He also found grasshoppers the com- 

 monest food brought to older young. 



In addition to feeding the young, the female broods them during the 

 night and broods or shades them as necessary during the day. During 

 130 hours of observation at the Hasting's Reservation, the female 



