Vol. XXII 



1905 



Wheelock, Regui'gitativc Feeding of Nestlings. . CO 



tucked carefully down into the throat and watched until they dis- 

 appear. 



In the case of the Chipping Sparrows, the first bit of fresh food 

 recorded was a spider given on the afternoon of the fifth day. 

 At this time the eyes were able to open and feathers were form- 

 ing, though showing merely as dark hues along the feather tract. 

 After this, the food consisted largely of grasshoppers, smooth 

 caterpillars and a few moths. 



A nest of Thurber Juncos {/unco oreganus thurberi) snugly 

 hidden under the edge of a decayed log at Mt. Tallac in the 

 Sierra Nevada Mountains, proved a most interesting find and 

 added much valuable data for the finch family. So shy were 

 the adults that it was impossible to watch the feeding from a 

 nearer distance than thirty feet, and the protective color of both 

 parents blending with the brown pine needles surrounding the 

 nest greatly increased the difficulty. In these circumstances I 

 was obliged to depend largely upon the condition of the food 

 found in the crop of the young to prove the method of feeding. 

 On the day of hatching, June 11, fifteen feedings by regurgitation 

 took place between 8 and 1 1 a. m. During this period I examined 

 the crops five times within three minutes after feeding, — that is, 

 each nestling was examined once. In every case the food was 

 found to be partially digested, forming a grayish, slimy mass 

 mixed with darker. Only one of the five crops showed seeds; 

 the others, insects. During the second day the meals were more 

 frequent and in two hours, from 9 to 1 1 a. m., the male came to 

 the nest six and the female eight times. From 1 to 2 p. m. there 

 were eleven feedings. Examination of the crops showed the 

 same condition as on the previous day. There was no record on 

 the third day. The fourth day differed from the first and second 

 days in the large amount of vegetable matter found in the food, 

 and also because four of the fourteen feedings recorded on this 

 day were of fresh food. The vegetable matter found in the crops 

 was small, round, highly mucilaginous seeds from some weed un- 

 known to me. The fresh food consisted of large insects which 

 had been carefully denuded of wings and legs before being given 

 to the young. On the fifth day all food given was fresh, — that is, 

 unregurgitated; feathers were commencing to show and the 



