184 TERRITORY AND REPRODUCTION 



impressed with the length of time during which 

 the parents were absent ; for, judging by the 

 experience of previous experiment, there seemed 

 to be every hkelihood of their losing their 

 offspring in such abnormally cold weather, 

 unless they brooded them more persistently. 

 On the 11th June at 5.50 a.m. neither parent was 

 to be seen and the young could scarcely be made 

 to respond ; but shortly afterwards both male 

 and female appeared, and, after remaining a 

 few minutes, again disappeared without even 

 approaching the nest. At 6.45 a.m. no attempt 

 had been made to brood and the young were 

 then so feeble that they were scarcely able to 

 open their mouths, and at 6 p.m. one was still 

 alive but the remaining three were dead. Yet 

 the parents returned and the female went to the 

 nest ; and, from a distance of a few feet, I 

 watched her brooding the living and the dead. 

 At 5.45 A.M. the following day the remaining 

 young bird had succumbed, the temperature 

 then being 49° F. 



At the second nest, I was unable to watch 

 the behaviour of the parents so closely. On the 

 15th June the nest contained three young from 

 three to four days old, and during the morning 

 of that and the succeeding day nothing unusual 

 occurred, with the exception that the period of 

 exposure seemed, as in the former case, to be 

 too long. On the l7th June at 3.10 a.m. the 

 young had collapsed and were stiff, but the 

 parents were in their territory and anxious 

 apparently to attend to their brood. At 9.15 



