NESTLINGS OF FOREST AND MARSH 
nest lay, the next thing was to find it, in 
the centre of a ten-acre meadow. By keep- 
ing a certain bunch of tall clovers on a line 
with a certain tree, we came to the place 
where the mother had so often disappeared. 
A long search revealed the nest carefully 
hidden in the grass and nearly arched over. 
Five half-fledged birdlings lay with their 
heads toward the outside, cuddled down 
compactly in a space apparently large enough 
for but one. 
Like the martins, the nestlings were sur- 
prisingly large and were covered with 
brownish gray down. Their beaks were 
pinkish gray, and the inside of the mouths 
a deep rose red rather than yellow. Every 
little mouth was opened wide for food, but 
their eyes were covered with the usual mem- 
brane, and did not open until two days 
later. We judged them to be five days old. 
As the days went by, the alarm call of the 
father increased in shrillness and was re- 
peated more rapidly. At first sight of us 
in the distance, he was on guard, and not 
24 
