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a tinn' she wduM My off twonty (ir lliirty feet and sit t'itlior (Hi a stumi) oi' 

 lengtlnviso on a Uw.h vv h;,™. !~'l.o a'vrays sat h'li.utlnviso with lier liead 

 toward me and appai-ontly did not inovo an eyelid while 1 was there. I 

 wonld scarcely leave the nest until she Avonld l)e Ijack brooding. Her 

 tli.ylit was always perfectly noiseless. In leaving the nest the bird never 

 eniittetl a sound, but as soon as she f(>ll to the ground she always gave the 

 same rapid series of hoarse chucks. 



Her large full eye was always very noticealde at such times. I re- 

 tiirned at a. m. .Tune 2!>. The yoimg ime Xo. 2 was just about two-thirds 

 the size of tlie older one. Tlie day was cold and raw and the older bird 

 commenced to utter a shi'ill peet. Tills sound was i)erfectly indistinguish- 

 able to nu^ at a distance of ten feet. However, it reached the ears of the 

 mother who sat thirty feet away. She immediately became restless and 

 commenced to fly from one object to another until I took the hint and 

 left. I was scarcely foity feet away wlien I saw the mother fly to the 

 nest. 



1 returned at 4 o'clock in tlie afternoon of the sam(> day (.[uly 29). The 

 older of the young ones could now toddle around some and was not quite 

 as helpless. The mother bird in rising kicked the two little birds about 

 two feet apai-t. Tlie younger lay perfectly still where she kicked it, but 

 the older one toddled on aliout one foot farther and hid under a leaf where 

 it Avas perfectly indistinguisliabl(>. 



On the next day, .Tune :'>(►. tlie older bird could run (luite livel.v for a 

 short distance. It ran with extended wings, as a (juail does. The younger 

 was still helpless. On this day I searched the entire neighborhood to see 

 if I could scare up the male 'oird. I had never seen him yet. I limited 

 in vain. I returned to the nest and Avhile gazing at the mother bird brood- 

 ing I saw to my astonishment a large mosquito light on her head near the 

 base of her bill. The mosquito probed around awhile and then crawled 

 out to the very tip of her bill, stayed there meditating for a minute and 

 then flew away. All the while the mother bird never moved a muscle. 



I returned to the pen on the morning of July 1 and found the birds 

 where I had left tliem. The j'ounger bird could now move around pretty 

 lively, l)ut was much smaller than the other. The old bird was getting 

 accustomed to ni.v presence now, so that I could photograph her with the 

 lens of the camera not more than three feet from her, without scaring her 

 from the nest. After taking the negative I approached my hand within 

 six inches of her before she C[Uietly but quickly flew away. She still per- 



