Illustrations of the Method 



43 



nection between bulb and bill, 

 for at the click of the shutter 

 she promptly swallowed the in- 

 sect and was off. 



The Wrens have a peculiar 

 way of disposing of the excreta. 

 The sac is taken direct from 

 the body of the young and car- 

 ried to a tree, where it is de- 

 posited or impaled on the bark 

 of a limb. The sac is rarely, if 

 ever, eaten, and never allowed 

 to fall to the ground. 



During the whole period of 

 observation, which lasted 

 eleven hours and five minutes, 

 the young were fed one hun- 

 dred and one times, at an av- 

 erage rate of once in six and a 

 half minutes (on the first day 

 once in two and a half min- 

 utes) , and the nest was inspected 

 and cleaned twenty-eight times. 

 The bill of fare, as far as re- 

 corded, consisted of nine differ- 

 ent articles, served in respect 

 to abundance in the order 

 named as follows: grasshop- 

 pers, thirty-three times ; spiders, 

 twenty-five; moths, fourteen; 

 black crickets, six ; green larvae, 

 two ; brown larvae, two ; besides 

 field cricket, green katydid, and 

 black beetle, each served once. 



During the last day of study 

 at this nest the young crawled 

 to the opening and took their 



I 



Figs. 28-30. Descending to nest. 

 Fig. 31. Young Wren leaving nest. 



