62 Wheelock, Regurgitative Feeding of Nestlings. \ P \tn 



/>//d7//trus) and Yellow-headed Blackbirds {Xanthocephalus xantho- 

 cephalus) in Wisconsin were recorded; and, in the case of the 

 Yellow-head, the nest was removed from its original site to one 

 better adapted for observation. The food habits of these three 

 species are so similar as to be nearly identical. The young are 

 fed by regurgitation for two (.lavs, afterwards by both methods for 

 two days, then entirely by fresh food. Examination of the crops 

 of the broods reared in late June showed, on the first day, snails, 

 waterslugs and larvae all partially digested. On the second day, 

 insects denuded of wings, legs, and all hard parts, and thoroughly 

 crushed as well as predigested, were found mixed with occasional 

 water moss. The third day showed little change in the menu but 

 the food was less digested and, on this day, occasional meals of 

 fresh food began to supplant the regurgitated. 



Meadowlarks, both the western (StumeUa magna negleeta) in 

 California and the eastern (Stttrnclla magna) in Illinois, were 

 recorded. They feed by regurgitation for three days, gradually 

 giving fresh food until by the fifth day all food is fresh. 



In most parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Pigmy Nut- 

 hatches ( S'itta pygmad) aTe very abundant and seem to be abso- 

 lutely without fear. One pair, nesting in a pine stump, went in 

 and out their small doorwav even while my eager fingers were try- 

 ing to enlarge it and scrambled over my hand repeatedly in so 

 doing. In this case there were newly hatched young in the nest; 

 and, as the adults went inside to feed them not more than two feet 

 from my eves, 1 was able to see perfectly that the food was carried 

 in the throat. Of course this could only mean regurgitation ; but 

 not until the third day could I get at the nestlings to examine the 

 crops. The contents consisted of larvae of insects and ant eggs, 

 all partially digested. On the fifth day the examination indicated 

 the presence of fresh or unregurgitated insect and grass food. On 

 the sixth day most of the food given was fresh, but on two occa- 

 sions the adults visited the nests with no visible supply in the bills. 

 No record was kept of this brood after the sixth day. Two other 

 broods of this species were recorded at the same place and with 

 practically the same results. The interval between feedings 

 shortened with the increasing age of the nestlings and on the last 

 day of the record twenty-eight meals were served by one pair 



