38 NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION 



ing- my numerous visits at the nest I acquired an interest and a sense 

 of proprietorship which prompt me to hope and feel that the little 

 family found its way safely beyond our borders before the cold frosts 

 set in. 



YOUNG ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAKS 



ELIZABETH VAN SAJST, OMAHA 



The method adopted in studjing the young- of the Rose-breasted 

 Grosbeak has been to form a close personal acqiiaintance with individ- 

 uals of the species. To make this acquaintance more intimate, the 

 young birds have been taken from the nest before they were old 

 enough to recognize their change of surroundings, and have been reared 

 ^vith a number of birds of ditferent species. They have never known 

 the limitations of a. cage, being given the libertj^ of a room specially 

 devoted to the feathered members of the household. A screen door 

 divides their apartment from the adjoining- room, and admits of their 

 being observed without putting upon them the restraint of a human 

 jiresence. No effort has been made to tame or train them, the object 

 being to see what they are, not what they can be made. 



When taken from the nest they were about a week old. Their heads 

 and backs were adorned with long white fuzz. The plumage tracts on 

 either side of back and breast were thickly studded with i)in-feathers, 

 while great patches of bare skin intervened. Their eyes were open 

 occasionally, b\it at best were sleepy-looking and unintelligent, while 

 their grotesquely large beaks added to their quaint appearance. They 

 were put into an old nest of the Chat, and for a few" days slept most 

 of the time covered with flannel. They displayed marvelovis activity 

 at feeding time, standing on their tip-toes, begging- loudly and flutter- 

 ing their Avings incessantlj'. It was droll to see them preen their pin- 



