68 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 87 



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, including the one just hatched, were jump- 

 ing at his beak. Finally one of them succeeded 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 American Bittern. Instead of the violent contor- 

 tions which preceded the act of regurgitation in the other 

 species, a few convulsive jerks of the throat and neck muscles 

 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 hunting on an extensive mud flat about two hundred 

 yards from the nest. 



No attempt was made at sanitation during our brief study, 

 the excreta being allowed to drop on the nest or fall into the 

 water beneath. The unconcern of the parents at our presence 

 made them the most interesting of all the birds studied and it 

 was with regret that we removed the blind and closed the 

 work. 



MarshalltOA^Ti, Iowa. 



