66 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 79. 



The Ijlind used was very simple and one easily made. It 

 was constructed of a sign umbrella held in position by three 

 guy ropes. The wall of muslin dyed grey was in one piece 

 and was fastened over the ends of the umbrella ribs by a 

 draw string. The bottom was staked down and the blind 

 was ready for use. Fig-ure 1 is a photograph of the blind as 

 it appeared at the thrasher nest. 



The nest chosen for study was that of a Brown Thrasher 

 (To.rosfoina rufniii). It was built on the ground, which is 

 rather an unusual nesting site for this species. The grass 

 had been quite long, but had been cut, leaving the nest in a 

 very exposed position. AVhen first discovered on June 17, it 

 contained four young, not more than twenty-four hours old, 

 and one addled egg. The blind was placed in position on 

 the morning of the 23d. Within an hour the parent birds had 

 become completely reconciled to its presence and were using 

 the guy ropes for a perch. Soon after the study was com- 

 menced it was noticed that one of the birds had a conspicuous 

 white spot on the back of the head and, after watching an 

 hour or two, it was decided that this bird was the female. 

 This white mark furnished a sure means of determining the 

 sex of the parent feeding. It is visible in figure 2 and 3. 



TABLE I. 



The data in Table I is simply a condensed form of the records 

 of feeding as they were taken in the blind. The first column con- 

 tains the number of the feeding (all the feedings from the first 

 to the last day of observation are numbered consecutively). The 

 second column contains the sex of the parent feeding ; the third the 

 time of day ; the fourth the character and amount of food ; the 

 fifth the nestling receiving the food; and the last one the data 

 on sanitation. 



Data for June 2.3, 1911. From 12:4.5 to .5:45 p. m. 

 No. Sex. Time. Food. Youns fed. Excreta. 



1. m 12:45 4 white moths, 2 small insects. 



2. f 12:48 Did not feed. 



3. m 12:.50 1 grasshopper. 



4. f 12:54 2 grasshoppers. 



5. f 12:55 1 grasshopper. 



6. m 12:59 1 grassliopper, several (2) devoured. 



criclvets. 

 7 f 1:06 1 mayfly, 5 white moths. 



