86 



THE OOLOGIST 



noon the first pair was observed in 

 copulation and on the following day, 

 the 9th, pairs were observed every- 

 where in the same process. The first 

 foundation for a nest was found on 

 the 11th, and this was completed by 

 the night of the 13th and the first egg 

 deposited at 9:45 a. m. of the 14th. 

 The set, which consisted of six, was 

 completed on the 21st. The period of 

 incubation in this case was twelve 

 days and four hours from the time of 

 the laying of the last egg. The process 

 of incubation was performed jointly 

 by the male and female, the male al- 

 ways slipping on the nest a few mo- 

 ments after the female left for the 

 purpose of food, bathing and exercise. 

 At times the female would remain 

 away for periods of over an hour, but 

 as soon as she returned to the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the nest the male 

 would fly to the topmost cattail near- 

 by and burst into ecstatic melody. At 

 night the female was always found on 

 the nest when a flashlight was focused 

 on it and the male roosting a few feet 

 away in the adjacent cattails. The 

 male was always, when not trying to 

 burst itself with its songs, on the 

 search for some dainty morsel of food 

 for its patient little mate, and visited 

 the nest many times with these dain- 

 ties. Their diet consists, as near as 

 could be determined, of small insects. 

 The young, after emerging from the 

 shells, were attended by both of the 

 parents, the female performing the 

 major portion of the food visits to the 

 nest. The excreta sacs were removed 

 by the female only. She would carry 

 these in her bill about five or six feet 

 from the nest and drop them while 

 still in flight in the waters below. The 

 nest just described was exactly six 

 feet four inches from the rail of the 

 railroad in a cattail clump on the 

 edge of the marsh, three feet three 

 inches from high water. On the rail- 

 road, trains were passing every few 



hours, but this would only cause a 

 few moments of unrest in this family 

 at each passing. The eggs of this set 

 was six in number and were gener- 

 ally alike, and like the numerous other 

 nests in the vicinity. The eggs aver- 

 aged .64X.46, the extremes being .68x.48 

 and .62x.41. During this period of in- 

 tensive study twenty-seven nests were 

 located along this railroad, all within 

 a distance of 900 feet. The largest 

 clutch was eight eggs and the small- 

 est five. The average incubating per- 

 iod of the twenty-seven was thirteen 

 days, three hours from the laying of 

 the last egg in the several nests. The 

 shortest period of incubation was 

 eleven days, five hours, and the long- 

 est fourteen days seven hours. 



Further work is expected to be done 

 by the writer with this species at 

 some future nesting season to compare 

 their distribution in this particular 

 locality and secure photographs and 

 other more minute details, particularly 

 the weighing of the eggs at various 

 times during the period of incubation, 

 banding of the nestlings, determina- 

 tion of the food of the parents and also 

 the nestlings and weighing of the 

 nestlings at various periods of growth 

 prior to leaving the nest. 



One thing which the writer has de- 

 termined to his own satisfaction is the 

 fact regarding the handling of the 

 eggs and the young. The pairs often 

 build more than one nest, but after 

 the first egg is laid they will not de- 

 sert the nest in which they have ac- 

 tually begun home life. While they 

 resent very much the intrusion of the 

 observer, still after a few visits and 

 their finding their property unharmed 

 lose much of this fear and often re- 

 mained within a dozen feet of the 

 writer, uttering sincere protests. Most 

 of the observations were made from a 

 grass and cornstalk blind about four 

 feet in diameter and six feet high, and 

 lined on the inside with mosquito net 



