NORTHERN CRESTED FLYCATCHER 113 



consisted of medium-small insects, but occasionally one of the parents 

 would bring a large miller or a small butterfly, and give it, wings 

 and all, to the young. The parents took excrement from the nest 

 and flew off with it." Dr. Ira N. Gabrielson (1915) writes: "The 

 striking thing in the feeding, at least to us, w^as the large percentage 

 of larvae fed. They comprised the largest single item of food, being 

 21.15% of the total. Grasshoppers under two heads in the tables, 

 were 12.50% ; spiders, 6.73 %c ; moths, 6.97% ; unidentified, 26.20%, ; red 

 admirals, 3.12% ; flies, 3.60% ; beetles, 4.08% ; hymenoptera (bees and 

 wasps), 4.32%; and the remainder, 11.30%, were miscellaneous in- 

 sects." Henry Mousley (1934) spent about 30 hours watching a nest 

 of young crested flycatchers, during the first half of July 1932. Re- 

 ferring to the food brought to the young by the male, he says: "On 

 four occasions, he brought a butterfly which I easily recognized as the 

 Silver-bordered Fritillary {Brenthis myrina), an insect having a 

 spread of wings of nearly one and three-quarter inches, which will 

 give you some idea of what the 3'oung had to put up with." He 

 also saw the male bring "a ripe wild raspberry" and the female bring 

 "the second large soft green caterpillar." On July 2, when he esti- 

 mated that young were three or four days old, "the young were fed 

 thirteen times in three hours, ten times by the female, and three by 

 the male." On subsequent occasions, the young were usually fed at 

 intervals varying from 10 to 13 minutes, though once he saw them fed 

 10 times in one hour. The average rate of feeding for the whole 

 period was once in 11.25 minutes. The male fed 42 times and the 

 female 118. He estimated that the young left the nest when they 

 were about 18 days old, which agrees exactly with Ora W. Knight's 

 (1908) figure. 



The findings of other observers differ: Mrs. Margaret Morse Nice 

 (1931a) gives 12 days as the altricial period, Dr. Gabrielson (1915) 

 says 12 to 13 days, and Dr. Dickey tells me that the young remain 

 in the nest three weeks. 



Dr. Gabrielson (1915) says: 



We saw no evidence of regurgitation. * * * During the study we saw 

 the parents carry away the excreta 41 times and devour it only once. Much 

 of it was undoubtedly removed during our absence from the blind, but there 

 must have been much of it devoured while the birds were concealed from our 

 view in the nest. 



The nestlings were very noisy and restless. They kept up a constant peeping 

 from the first day. On July 7 [when about six days old] one or more of them 

 began to utter a loud clear call or whistle, "ticee-et," which was occasionally 

 answered by the parents from a distance. * * ♦ 



On July 8 the nestlings began to climb restlessly about in the nest. » • • 

 They crawled part way up the sides of the cavity and fell back to the bottom 

 again. • ♦ ♦ Several times on July 9 they fell out of the nest and started 

 away through the grass. * * * Whatever the cause of this action they 

 quieted down after July 10 and remained in the nest until July 14. 



