2 24 Owen, A Family of Nestlings. [hit 



a quick flit, a scramble through the grass and a sudden disappear- 

 ance, this was the usual programme. A few seconds later the grass 

 blades would be separated very quietly, and the bird might be 

 seen standing for a brief moment perfectly still ; again the quick 

 flight and the visit was over. The male was in the habit of 

 alighting on a small bush, some twenty-five yards from the cellar, 

 for a brief song, before renewing his search for the grubs and 

 the insects which supplied the family larder ; but the female never 

 .slackened her assiduity. 



Back and forth, back and forth, from sunrise until sunset, the 

 parent birds journeyed to and from the nest at the average rate, 

 for the time we watched, of a visit by one of the birds every 4.75 

 minutes. On the whole, the feeding became more frequent as the 

 nestlings grew. Thus in the two hours and thirteen minutes that 

 we watched the nest, July 19, the birds made a total of twenty- 

 six visits, or one every five minutes, while July 21, the average 

 interval was 3.24 minutes. On the last named date we recorded 

 the visits to the nest during some part of every hour but one 

 between five o'clock in the morning and eight o'clock in the even- 

 ing; and it is worthy of mention that the most frequent visits dur- 

 ing this day were made between three and four o'clock in the 

 afternoon when a thunder shower was passing over the locality. 

 In the midst of a pouring rain the parent birds carried food to 

 their brood every two minutes ! Between seven and eight o'clock 

 the calls were still at the rate of one in two and eight-tenths min- 

 utes; but we were unable by observation on this or any other day 

 to discover any constant relation between the rate of feeding and 

 the time of day. 



It remains to explain why our observations on the Sparrows 

 were not extended over a longer time. One week seems a brief 

 period to follow the life-history of so interesting a family, but, 

 unfortunately, the precocity of the members rendered a longer 

 intimacy out of the question. The increase in weight that has 

 been described was accompanied by other features of develop- 

 ment. When the first weighing was done the young birds were 

 weak and submitted with the passive philosophy born of inno- 

 cence and inability ; but the operation was not long to remain so 

 easy. By July 18, the big eyes, which up to this time had 



