462 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



These burrows go into the face of the bank, slightly rising 

 in most cases until from two to eight feet back, when with a 

 slight descent and enlarging of the hole the circular nesting 

 chamber is formed. Where the birds are not disturbed, two 

 feet is about the average depth of a burrow, while when much 

 bothered by boys they go in far deeper. A burrow I measured 

 extended backward three feet. The entrance hole was three 

 inches in diameter, the diameter of the chamber was five inches 

 and the depth of the hollowed out chamber below the level of 

 the entrance was one-half inch. The nest was composed of a 

 little dry grass and lined with white feathers. It was found at 

 Veazie, June 16, 1900, and contained five pure white eggs 

 measuring 0.68 x 0.50, 0.68 x 0.49, 0.69 x 0.51, 0.69 x 0.50, 

 0.67 X 0.48. 



Three to seven, generally four or five eggs are laid about 

 the middle of June. The difficulty in the way of determining 

 how long it takes to build a nest is of course considerable. 

 Observation has shown me that it took about fifteen days from 

 the time a burrow was commenced until the birds began to 

 carry in straw and grass, indicating the burrows had been dug, 

 but in cases where unusually deep burrows are made the time 

 of course is far greater. Usually the birds continue carrying 

 grass and feathers for a period of about five days, and a week 

 after these operations have ceased a complete or nearly com- 

 plete set of fresh eggs can be found by digging. The young 

 birds are ready to leave about a month after the nest building 

 has ceased. 



That both sexes do their part of the work is very evident. 

 Often on going up to a burrow which I knew contained eggs, 

 both birds would leave on my starting in operations, and on 

 getting one of the eggs out it would be found well incubated. 

 I have also seen both birds in a burrow which was being dug, 

 and they roost together in it at night. 



The food consists of flies, mosquitoes, winged ants, beetles, 

 small butterflies, moths and in general any winged insects. 



