18 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 



General Remarks on Tahle VIII 



Observations were conducted between the hours of 7:20 and 

 11 :00 .A M. and between 3 :00 and 5 :00 p, m. during which period 

 eighteen feedings were administered and excreta sacs were 

 voided twenty-one times. 



The nestlings appeared even more restless than on the pre- 

 ceding day. They were continually shifting their positions, 

 preening their feathers, trying their wings and pecking the 

 side of the nest or one another. 



The adults absented themselves for considerable periods of 

 time. Neither parent visited the young between 3 :00 and 3 :30 

 p. M. at which time the male returned without food and re- 

 mained at the edge of the nest for twelve minutes. 



At 9 :16 one of the adult birds suddenly swooped down from a 

 nearby perch, picked up a voided excreta sac and carried it 

 away ; again at 9 :24 and 9 :38 this performance was repeated. 

 At 9 :46 the female returned cautiously, obtained a voided ex- 

 creta sac and flew away. Excreta sacs were removed by the 

 adults also at the following hours: 10:07, at which time two 

 sacs were voided by different birds, 10 :15, 3 :45, 4 :04 and 4 :44. 

 At none of these times were the adults on the nest but appar- 

 ently they were on watch near by. Food was not brought 

 on any of these visits which were apparently solely for the re- 

 moval of the excreta sacs. 



At 8 :43 a chipmunk appeared near the blind and immediately 

 upon discovering it the female dashed at the rodent from a 

 near by log. She followed the intruder with much pecking and 

 flapping of wings until he sought the friendly refuge of the 

 mess tent a few yards away. 



OBSERVATIONS ON AUGUST 8 

 On August 8 observations were begun at 7 :00 a. m. when both 

 parents were absent from the nest. While the writer was at- 

 tempting to lift up one of the young birds in his hands it es- 

 caped, and, at the same time, two of the other nestlings with 

 much squawking, fluttered off through the ferns and bushes 

 amid the excited cries of the parents in the low branches of 

 trees a few feet away. In its effort to repel the intruder one 

 of the adult birds flapped him on the head with its wings. Dur- 



