64 Wheelock, Regurgitative Feeding of Nestlings. 



their crops full of insect food in advanced digestion. Two subse- 

 quent examinations gave the same result. It differed in no respect 

 from results of similar examinations of young broods which we had 

 w r atched at close range while they were being fed by regurgitation. 

 On the second day, by burying myself in the sand and covering 

 head and shoulders with a tree branch, I managed to see both 

 parents feed the young. There was the same hesitation, the same 

 swelling of the throat, and the same quick pouring of the food into 

 the open bill of the nestling, that we had seen in the case of all 

 the perching birds during the first few days of feeding their young. 

 The examination, however, revealed insect food of a dark color. 

 I recorded it as ants, with a question mark. Whether our watch- 

 ing had exposed this brood to other meddlers, or whether the par- 

 ents deserted them, I know not; but the third day found the nest 

 empty, and the record is only valuable as establishing the feeding 

 habits of the first three days. I offer it hoping someone may take 

 up the clew and obtain fuller results. 



One of the most interesting of the Swallow records is that of a 

 pair who plastered their mud nest under the eaves of a bungalow 

 at Lake Pewaukee in Wisconsin. Standing on the ground I could 

 re.ich into the nest and, but for the overhanging eaves, could have 

 looked into it. The location was much more like a Phoebe's nest- 

 ing site, yet the housekeepers were Cliff Swallows (Pe troche I idon 

 lunifrons). The young were hatched on July 10, and were larger 

 in proportion to the size of the adults than any nestlings I have 

 seen, except young Purple Martins. From early morning until 

 after sunset the parents were busily flitting to and fro over the 

 marshy land and bringing their harvest of gnats to the little ones. 

 No tent was necessary to watch this brood. Their home life was 

 carried on with the utmost freedom while I sat hour after hour 

 within five feet of the nest. In this they were like the Purple 

 Martins again, who insisted upon entering the nest hole with food 

 while I was reaching in for the young. On the first clay, the young 

 Eave Swallows received forty-six meals in three and one half 

 hours, all by regurgitation. The adult never failed to alight on 

 the edge of the pocket shaped nest in such a way as to stand 

 between me and the young so that I could not see exactly what 

 took place. After waiting several seconds, the parent leaned over 



