66 Wheelock, Regurgitative Reeding of Nestlings. Man 



seemed to have more than doubled in size and their crops plainly 

 indicated a darker color of the contents than on the day before. 

 The feather test was used in this examination and revealed a slimy 

 formless substance too far digested to be identified. As usual, 

 this examination was made immediately after the young had been 

 fed, and the result would seem to indicate that Vireos digest the 

 food more thoroughly before regurgitation than do most birds. 

 On the third day, the first meal of fresh food was recorded at 10 : 30 

 a. m. It was a large spider and was plainly visible in the bill of 

 the adult. At 10:47, a feeding by regurgitation took place with 

 two nestlings and examination showed that it consisted of small 

 insects. At 10 : 52, another spider was given and at 1 1 : 10, sev- 

 eral small worms were brought as food. At n 135 the entire 

 brood were given something by regurgitation. Examination of the 

 crops made me suspect that this was water, for only a fluid was 

 apparent. During the afternoon of the third day, feedings recorded 

 were by regurgitation. When four days old the young vireos were 

 still quite naked, only a thin down covering their upper parts, and 

 their eyes were just beginning to open. On this day they were 

 fed both by regurgitation and fresh food. The contents of the 

 crops revealed spiders, caterpillars, beetles and small insects, both 

 partially digested and fresh. Of eighteen feedings in two hours, 

 eleven were by regurgitation. On the fifth day only one regurgi- 

 tative feeding was recorded, and from this time on all feedings 

 were of fresh food. 



On page 126 of Prof. Weed's ' Birds in Relation to Man ' he 

 quotes Prof. Herrick as saying of a brood of Red-eyed Vireos : 

 " On the third day the mother brought a ripe red raspberry, its 

 juice fairly streaming down her bill." Prof. Herrick's statement 

 occurs on page 68 of his ' Home Life of Wild Birds ' and is cor- 

 rectly quoted except that the third day referred to is the third day 

 of Prof. Herrick's record, not of the life of the vireos. He says 

 that the young vireos were four or five days old when he began to 

 watch them and, consequently, they were seven or eight days old 

 when this red raspberry was brought. In the three vireo broods 

 I have recorded, no fruit was found in the crops until the sixth 

 day when, in the case of the Red-eyed, two blueberries were dis- 

 covered. Cassin Vireos whom I recorded, were fed bits of leaves, 



