122 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 pakt i 



was seeea to brood or shade the nestlings about one-third of the time 

 and was away from the nest two-thirds of it. As was to be expected, 

 the time spent brooding was greater for the small young and on cooler 

 days and was neghgible with older young. At one of the nests ob- 

 served by Hjersman, the female left the nest, at least the greater part 

 of the time, when the male gave a "brzeet" call, the same as the last 

 faint part of the song. While she was off the pair were often seen 

 foraging together on nearby grassy slopes. 



Shading of the young was common when the nest was in direct 

 sunlight. Of the total time at the nest 78 percent was spent brooding, 

 22 percent shading the young. The shading was done by standing up 

 in the nest with the wings spread. Often the female opened her mouth 

 presumably to aid her in dissipating the excess heat. 



Both parents ate or carried away any fecal sac that was deposited 

 while they were at the nest. As with other species the female, at 

 least, seemed to wait for the young to defecate or to stimulate it 

 by pecking at the anal region. 



At the nest Gray observed at the Hastiug's Natural History Reser- 

 vation, he was fortunate enough to be on hand at the time the young 

 left the nest. On this morning, the female first left the nest at 4:26 

 a.m. when the Hght was still too dim for Gray to determine what she 

 brought to feed the yoimg 4 minutes later. She continued to feed at 

 2 to 5 minute intervals until and after the young were out of the nest. 

 Her mate was first noticed with her at 4:54. The two chirped back 

 and forth constantly. Most of the time the male stayed in the nest 

 area and a number of times accompanied her on her foraging trips, 

 but he was not seen to gather food for, or to approach, the young. 

 The female in seeking food usually clung to a vertical rose stem and 

 watched for a grasshopper to move. When one did, she pm'sued it 

 and often was successful m capturing it. At 5:04 the female was seen 

 to feed a young, which, unobserved by Gray, had moved about 6 

 mches out from the nest. At first she seemed to feed this one more 

 frequently than the young in the nest; then the pattern was reversed. 



Presently the young that had been out of the nest was discovered 

 to have returned to it. It was not for long, however, for in a few 

 moments at 6:12 one young flew out and disappeared mto the brush 4 

 feet from the nest. Four minutes later a second one flew to a perch 

 8 inches above the nest and was followed by the third. The parents 

 watched this, but did not call or act alarmed. A few minutes later 

 the female came to the nest with food, then departed with it rather 

 than going to the young. Later she returned with it and fed one of the 

 young. For the following feedings, the female returned to the nest 

 with food and then went to the young and fed them. Within a 

 half hour, however, she was going directly to them. The young 



