NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 87 



One or the other of the parents kept the nest covered throughout the day and 

 both assumed the same position. They sat on the nest with the wings spread 

 in such a manner as to give the body a curious flattened appearance while the 

 head and neck were extended to their full length with the beak pointing straight 

 in the air. Occasionally the head was lowered for an instant to examine the 

 young but almost immediately was raised again. Every bird that flew by was 

 watched and every movement in the surrounding vegetation seemed to be noted' 

 by the bird on the nest. This position had the advantage of elevating the eyes 

 some distance above the nest and gave the bird a better view of what was going 

 on around. I was curious to see how these newly hatched young would get their 

 food; to see if they were fed as the young American bitterns had been. At 10.50 

 the bright colored little male alighted on the platform behind the nest and stood 

 there watching the female who was on the nest. From time to time he allowed 

 the beak to hang open and shook his head in a comical way. After he had been 

 doing this for 10 minutes, the female stepped from the nest and flew away. The 

 male took her place and stood, still shaking his head. All of the brood, includ- 

 ing the one just hatched, were jumping at his beak. Finally one of them suc- 

 ceeded in securing a hold on it and pulled his head down toward the nest. His 

 beak was seized at right angles by that of the young as in the case of the Amer- 

 ican bittern. Instead of the violent contortions which preceded the act of regur- 

 gitation in the other species, a few convulsive jerks of the throat and neck muo- 

 cles brought the food into the mouth, from which it passed into that of the young 

 in the same manner as before. The food instead of being in a compact mass was 

 more of a liquid containing pieces of small frogs and occasionally whole ones. 

 These nestlings had not yet become proficient in their strange manner of feeding 

 and more or less of the food material fell into the nest. When this happened, 

 the young which were not receiving food at the time seized it and swallowed it. 

 When two secured a hold on the same frog, an exciting tug of war followed until 

 one or the other was victorious. All five young were fed at each visit, and it 

 seemed to be as instinctive for them to jump at the beak of the parent as it is 

 for other young birds to raise the opened beak. During the day the male and 

 female alternated in the care of the nest but the brooding periods of the latter 

 were much the longer. She seldom remained away any length of time. On the 

 other hand the male did all the feeding, four times, during the day. The female 

 evidently hunted only for her own food during her absences from the nest while 

 the male foraged for both the nestlings and himself. Both parents did their hunt- 

 ing on an extensive mud flat about 200 yards from the nest. 



Doctor Bales (1911) says of the behavior of young least bitterns: 



Another nest discovered the same day contained six young in which the pin- 

 feathers were showing. It is doutful if this nest would have been discovered, 

 had I not seen one of the young birds clinging to one of the round water grasses 

 fully a foot above the nest. While perched upon the slender, swaying water 

 grass, they have a peculiarly pert and saucy look that is ludicrous in the extreme 

 They are excellent climbers and use their long necks and bills in climbing by 

 hooking the head over the perch and using it as a sort of hook to aid them in 

 scrambling up. The feet are very strong. The young in this nest tried to peck 

 my hand as I placed it above them; they acted like trained soldiers, all pecking 

 at exactly the same time, as if at a word of command. 



Plumages. — The downy young least bittern is well covered on the 

 head and back with long, soft, buify down, "ochraceous buff" to "light 

 ochraceous buff"; the under parts are more scantily covered with 

 paler, more whitish down. 



