BROWN THRASHER 361 



He made a careful record of the food given to the young and pub- 

 lished a long list of insects, larvae, spiders, and worms supplied. "The 

 four insects consumed in the largest quantities were found to be as 

 follows : grasshoppers 247, Mayflies 425, moths 237, and cutworms 103. 

 Two of these, at least, are positively destructive insects; and m the 

 smnmer of 1911 the grasshoppers were almost a plague in parts of 

 northern Iowa. Many fields of grain were destroyed and many more 

 were cut green to prevent destruction, making the oats light weight 

 and poor quality. The grasshoppers stripped the oats from the straw 

 by cutting the stem of each grain. This was done while the grain 

 was in the milk, so it was a total loss." 



A record was kept of the number of feedings by each parent each 

 day ; the longest and largest record was made on June 27 ; from 3 : 30 

 a. m. to 9 : 00 p. m. the male fed the young 98 times and the female 

 fed them 186 times, or a total of 286 feedings, including twice that the 

 yomig were fed without the sex of the parent being known. In order 

 to determine the quantity of food received by each nestling, the young 

 birds were marked with green, orange, blue, and white thread. "From 

 June 26 at 4: 11 p. m., until Green left the nest on the 28th, at 12: 19 

 p. m., he was fed 152 times; Orange 142 times; Wliite 169 times; and 

 Blue 133 times. Orange was a small and active bird ; White was large 

 and inactive, but seemingly possessed of plenty of strength; Blue 

 was weak and timid." The total amount distributed during this time, 

 parts of 3 days, was 976 insects, or an average of 219 to each young 

 bird. Gabrielson continues : 



Sometimes it seemed as if cliance determined which individual would receive 

 the morsel, and at other times looked as if there were other factors. Therte 

 seemed to be a tendency to feed the one nearest the parent bird, and, as the old 

 birds almost invariably approached the nest from the south, it would follow 

 that the nestling on that side would get the most food. However that may be, 

 the young were constantly trying to get to that side of the nest. One would no 

 sooner get into place on that side than another would crowd him out. This was 

 not always the case, for at times the parents would reach over and feed those 

 on the farther side. Again it seemed as if the nestling that made the greatest 

 disturbance received the food. 



The nest was kept scrupulously clean through the efforts of both 

 parents ; on June 27, from 3 : 30 a. m. to 9 : 00 p. m., the nest was cleaned 

 18 times by the male and 38 times by the female. 



Three interesting facts were noted in connection with the passage of the 

 excreta : viz., the young birds made no attempt to void the excreta except when 

 one of the parent birds was present ; second, only one of the nestlings voided the 

 excreta at any one visit of the parent birds ; and third, almost always the bird 

 fed, or if two were fed, one of the two voided the excreta. * * * The results 

 of these observations seem to indicate that the feeding may possibly be the direct 

 stimulus to the voiding of the excreta, as out of a possible 112 times 104 sacs of 

 excreta were removed from the nestling receiving the food at that visit, while 



