304 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and carry them to the nest and feed them to the young. Observing 

 through 3x glasses I have seen them feed cutworms and cabbage worms 

 at a ratio of six cabbage worms to one cutworm. I have also observed 

 them feeding crickets and grasshoppers. The legs are removed from 

 the latter two before the insects are carried to the nest. The ampu- 

 tation is performed usually on the alighting perch, which in this case 

 was a white fence between cottages." 



The length of time that the young remain in the nest was not so 

 easily determined, but he obtained two records on this point. Mrs. 

 D. M. Morrison gave him the following data from her notes : "Nest 

 of mockingbird started March 13, 1931. March 25, 2 eggs; March 

 27, 4 eggs ; April 7, first downy young. April 8, 4 downy young ; April 

 21, young left the nest." In this case the nest life of the young was 

 13 days. 



In 1942, Mr. and Mrs. H. K. Myers and Mr. Braund watched a nest 

 closely. "This nest contained four eggs, one of which did not hatch. 

 All young hatched between 9 : 00 p. m. on June 6 and 11 : 00 a. m. on 

 June 7. The young were dry at this latter time. One of the young 

 left the nest at 4 : 00 p. m. on June 20, the second at 5 : 00 p. m. on 

 June 20, and the third at 9 : 00 p. m. on June 20. Deep twilight was 

 at 9 : 00 p. m., Eastern War Time. Using the 11 : 00 a. m. June 7 

 date would establish the nest-life cycle of these young at 13 days 

 6 hours, 13 days 6 hours, and 13 days 10 hours, respectively." 



William G. Fargo writes to Mr. Bent from Pass-a-Grille, Fla., 

 that a pair of mockingbirds, nesting in his seagrape, began incubating 

 on a set of five eggs during the morning of April 7, and that the eggs 

 were hatched on the morning of April 19, showing an incubation 

 period of about 12 days. He never saw any evidence of more than one 

 bird incubating, but Dr. Eugene E. Murphey, of Augusta, Ga., states 

 (MS.) that "he has seen the male relieve the female at the incubation 

 duties, and take his turn at sitting on the eggs." 



Mr. Braund (MS.) reports the following interesting observation, 

 made at the residence of L. A. Rosier in Gulfport: "On April 19, 

 1942, the nest with four eggs aYid the parent bird incubating were 

 reported by Miss Rosier. We visited the nest daily until April 

 24, when a painter appeared to paint the cottage and the birds aban- 

 doned the nest. The nest was visited each day to April 30. The 

 adult birds were not seen; the eggs were cold. On May 6 Braund 

 returned to the nest to collect the abandoned eggs. This revisitation 

 disclosed a fifth egg in the nest and either the same pair or another 

 pair of mockingbirds about the location. On May 7 the nest con- 

 tained six eggs, May 8 seven eggs and a parent bird incubating the 

 eggs at 3 : 00 p. m. This nest was visited each day to May 27, a period 

 of 19 days, when the parent birds again abandoned the nest. The 



