160 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 88 



Sparrow by Dr. C. M. AVeed* is cited as a model, because of the iu- 

 definiteness of identification of the food fed to the young sparrows. This 

 nest of tlie chippy Avas "near" a window, from which it was watched; 

 but nothing further was stated to enable one to know whether the 

 distance was two feet or ten feet, or whetlier it was watched through an 

 open or closed window. It is only fair to the authors of this paper to 

 quote from page 109 as follows: "The precise determination of the 

 most of the food brought was, of course, impossible, the observations 

 having been undertaken especially to learn the regularity of the feeding 

 habits of the adult birds. ' ' Since this study was not undertaken for the 

 purpose of determining the nature of the food, it hardly seems proper, in 

 fairness to the author, to set it up as an example of this line of work. 



The reviewer's proposal to tie bags over the anal orifices of nestling 

 birds for the purpose of collecting the excreta will be highly amusing 

 to anyone who has noticed young birds in the nest. However, any sug- 

 gestion coming from so well qualified a critic deserves attention, and the 

 writer will endeavor to try out this new method at some future time. 



As another suggestion that the authors of the several papers reviewed 

 may have been deceived in their observations the reviewer has said, "A 

 great many birds feed by regurgitation and the food is at no time 

 visible. ' ' We take it that the reviewer here has in mind passerine birds, 

 since no other order was involved in the discussion. 



In our studies on the passerine birds we have succeeded in following 

 the feeding of at least one out of a brood, from the moment it left the 

 egg until it left the nest, in the cases of the yellow warbler, the catbird, 

 and the meadowlark (report on the last having not yet been published) ; 

 and in each of these instances there has been no feeding by regurgita- 

 tion. This is known simply from the fact that the food has been 

 visible in the bird's bill. It is quite possible, of course, that regurgi- 

 tation may be found to be practiced by certain passerine birds, such as 

 the flycatchers and the grosbeaks, and it is just such questions which can 

 be settled by field observation. (I am not now considering the carry- 

 ing of berries in the throat of a waxwing as coming under the definition 

 of regurgitation.) 



The reviewer's confession of limited experience in field work of this 

 kind is sufficient reason in itself to make him more cautious of such 

 vigorous, though quibbling, criticism. 



It would seem that he is very skeptical of the value of field observa- 

 tions on the food of nestling birds in any case. It is to be assumed 

 that he relies wholly upon the examination of stomach contents. But 

 there are limitations to that method also. The examination of a stomach 

 will give, at best, the story of only three or four hours of the bird's 

 life. Even with the food mass in a watch glass, some of the material 

 must be macerated beyond recognition. What is unrecognizable cannot 



* Weed Clarence M. An Observation on the Feeding Habits of the 

 Chipping Sparrow. X. H. Agric. Exp. Sta. Bull. 5.j, 1898, pp. 101 -llo. 



