86 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



adults except for the brief moment when one leaves and the other feeds 

 before settling on the nests. Older young are left uncovered for short 

 intervals during the warm parts of the day and may not be brooded at 

 all the last few days before fledging. 



Food is brought on each return of the adults at intervals at 15 to 

 30 minutes when the adults are brooding and of 5 minutes or less when 

 the young are older. The food, which is carried in the bill and is 

 often a conspicuous mass of green larvae, is placed in the mouths of one 

 or more young while the parent perches on the rim of the nest. At 

 first there is usually some for each of the three or four young, later only 

 one or two receive food at each visit. The first to raise its head if only 

 by a fraction of a second, is served first. One receiving no food will 

 continue to hold its head up, and often the adult rapidly and repeatedly 

 thrusts its bill into the upturned throat. There is probably no regurgi- 

 tation of food, for the bill and throat of the adult seem quite empty. 

 The slight jar caused by the adult landing on the nest or nearby twigs 

 is the signal to the young that a meal is at hand. The adults seem to 

 have no specific calls to their young. The fecal sacs are eaten by the 

 adult, if it remains on the nest, or are carried away, if it does not brood. 



The young are naked at hatching. By the third day many of the 

 feathers show as slight irregularities on the surface. By the fifth day 

 the feathers show as slight ridges, with the tips protruding above the 

 surface of the skin, and the resting posture is upright rather than on 

 the side. By the tenth day the young when huddled in the nest seem 

 completely covered but the feathers do not actually cover the apteria 

 until the twelfth or thirteenth day. At this age the young stand up 

 in the nest, stretch, preen, vibrate their wings, and give a faint food 

 call. 



On the fifteenth or sixteenth day after hatching, the young leave the 

 nest. On two occasions of which I have record, they left before 7 : 30 on 

 the fifteenth day. One family was evidently frightened from the nest 

 when only 13 or 14 days old, and two of the three young survived. The 

 brood that Newberrj'^ watched all left the nest explosively at 1 : 30 on 

 the sixteenth day. Twice that I know of, one of the young remained 

 in the nest several hours or a day longer than the others. At the time 

 the young leave the nest, the body is well covered, but the wing feathers 

 are not fully grown and the tail is scarcely an inch long. The iris is 

 white as in the adult. 



The first day out of the nest the young are easily located by their 

 frequent calls. They remain perched most of the time. If forced 

 to move they progress by a series of short hops accompanied by prob- 

 ably useless fluttering of the wings, but they are not sure-footed and if 

 hurried often fail to gain the intended perch and scramble desperately 

 to gain a footing and recover their balance. I was able to catch and 

 band two such families. By the following day the young respond to 



