NESTING HABITS OF HEKMIT THRUSH 19 



ing all this excitement one nestling remained on the nest, but 

 at 7 :03 it too left, half flj'ing, half running through the blue- 

 berry bushes. The young were by this time well scattered and 

 the adult birds called every few seconds for over an hour, the 

 nestlings answering at intervals. 



At 7 :07 the female returned to the nest which now contained 

 only the addled egg and three excreta sacs with one of which 

 she immediately flew away. At 7 :10 she returned for another 

 sac and a minute later she flew back for a third sac which she 

 carried away. She did not seem excited at the absence of the 

 nestlings and apparently was preparing the nest for further 

 use. 



The female visited the nest again for a moment at 7 :13 and at 

 7 :48 she returned, pecked two or three times in the bottom, 

 walked across it and flew away, returning once more at 7:53 

 when the same performance was noted. 



At 8 :10 one of the adults with food in its bill alighted on a 

 low limb of a birch tree near by; every few seconds it called 

 to the young. Fifteen minutes later an adult bird carrying 

 food was again observed in the vicinity. It uttered an unbroken 

 series of low clucks and after a moment flew to the ground 

 where one of the young was calling and probably fed it, for not 

 a sound was heard from this spot for more than a minute. 



Although the family was now dispersed the adults seemed 

 to be as active as ever in feeding the nestlings and not much 

 time was lost in idleness once the disturbance of the morning 

 had abated. 



The nest and vicinity were again inspected in the evening 

 but no trace of the adults or young was discovered; only the 

 addled egg remained. Our observations were thus brought to 

 a rather sudden and untimely end. However, it seems certain 

 that in another twenty-four hours the young would have left 

 the nest of their own accord instead of in the rather unsum- 

 mary and irregular manner herein described. 



Although nothing was seen of the young thrushes subsequent 

 to this episode it is likely that they remained in the vicinity for 

 a time or at least until they could fly well. Concerning the 

 habits of this species after deserting the nest Audubon re- 



