Home Life of the Brown Thrasher. 87 



eral times after this he ate one himself. The female on the 

 contrary was never observed to eat one of them, but fed a 

 number to the young- from the ones by the nest. The piece 

 of cherry was also placed by the nest to see what the birds 

 would do with it. The male, happened to be the first to visit 

 the nest and, after picking at it several times, gave it to one 

 of the nestlings. Most of the beetles were May beetles, and 

 the larvae were practically all of this form. The unknown in- 

 sects and worms were of various kinds and were either so 

 badly crushed as to be \inrecognizable or else were of a spe- 

 cies imfamiliar to those in the blind at that time. 



On June 26, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, it was decided 

 to make an effort to determine the quantity of food received by 

 each nestling, and to that end a colored thread was tied on the 

 leg of each. By frequently observing the position of the 

 young birds in the nest, the color of the leg band, and paying 

 close attention to the changes in position, it was possible to 

 get a record of the food each nestling received. The colors 

 were green, orange, blue, and white, and each nestling will 

 hereafter be designated by the color of the leg band. Green 

 was by far the most enterprising- of the four and left the nest 

 several hours before any of the others, and almost a day be- 

 fore Blue, who was the weakest and most sluggish of all. 



From June 20 at 4:11 p. m., until Green left the nest on 

 the 28th, at 12:19 p. m., he was fed 152 times; Orange 142 

 times; White 169 times; and Blue 133 times. Orange was a 

 small and active bird ; White was large and inactive , but 

 seemingly possessed of plenty of strength ; Blue was weak and 

 timid. White stayed in the nest until almost the time Blue 

 left, but this was due more perhaps to his inactive disposition 

 than to inability to go. During the period of observation, 

 White was fed a total of 205 times before leaving the nest, 

 and Blue only 163 times in the same period. 



