68 W heelock, Regnrgiiative Feeding of Nestlings. \_]an 



manners. In some localities they are as common as Bluebirds in 

 Illinois, and no bird is more easily observed. The pair of this 

 record nested in an evergreen tree near the reservoir of Elysian 

 Park, Los Angeles. On the day of hatching, as soon as the young 

 were fed, we cut a slit in the nest and investigated. The adults 

 are scarcely as large as Kinglets and the nestlings were about the 

 size of a bumblebee, certainly less than an inch long. Obviously 

 any thorough examination of the crops was impossible, but its 

 external appearance was like that of the German Canary, soft, 

 creamy and yellowish in color. Whatever the food, it was nearly 

 digested when given. For four days a diligent watch was kept 

 and not once was any visible food brought to the nest. No rec- 

 ord on the fifth day. On the sixth day, a second examination 

 revealed crops full of insect food partially digested. On this day 

 also we saw one of the adults bring a grub to the nest. The eyes 

 were now open and the skin was covered with down. No record 

 was kept of this brood after the sixth day. In the crops of other 

 broods, which were feathered and ready to leave the nest, we found 

 insect eggs, grubs and caterpillars. In the case of the first brood 

 mentioned, feeding was surprisingly frequent, the thirty meals in 

 two and a half hours being the highest I have recorded of any 

 species. 



The habits of the Sapsuckers are typified by a pair of William- 

 son Sapsuckers (Sp/iyrapicus thyroideus) of California whose rec- 

 ord I now offer you. Half way up from the ground, in a burned 

 pine stump, was the entrance to the nest and easily accessible to 

 the small boy climber who was my chief aid. Sometime before 

 this I had discovered a nest similarly located but nearer the ground, 

 and had found the adults so shy that I had not kept a record of 

 them, fearing a repetition of the Slender-billed Nuthatch tragedy. 

 But the second pair of Williamsons were resigned to their fate. 

 With scarcely a scolding protest they fled, leaving us to investigate 

 and returned as soon as we had gone. It was May 24 when the 

 eggs hatched, and five naked nestlings lay cuddled together on 

 the hard wood of the nest. At the first absence from home of the 

 adults, two of the young were lowered to me for investigation. 

 They had just been fed and were surfeited. The contents of the 

 crops were thick fluid, very sticky, as indicated by the inserted 



