5 2 Wild Birds 



In the space of four hours (8.54 A.M. to 12.50 P.M.) the parents 

 made one hundred and eight visits to the nest and fed their 

 brood ninety-one times. In this task the female bore the larger 

 share, bringing food more than fifty times, although the male 

 made a good showing, having a record of thirty-seven visits to 

 his credit. During this long interval the young were thus fed 

 on the average of once in two and one half minutes. At each 

 feeding usually one and but rarely two birds were served. Dur- 

 ing the first hour the young were fed on an average of once in 

 one and a half minutes. The observer was kept on the alert 

 in recording what took place, and the scenes would often shift 

 so quickly that it was difficult to decide which bird came to the 

 nest. The mother brooded eighteen times, and altogether for 

 the space of one hour and twenty minutes. The nest was 

 cleaned seven times, and the nest and young were constantly 

 inspected and picked all over by both birds, although the female 

 was the more scrupulous in her attentions. 



Whenever the male brought a large dragon-fly to the young, 

 an exciting scene was sure to follow. If the female happened 

 to be brooding at the time, she would seize the struggling insect 

 and try to start it down one of the hungry throats. If she 

 failed in this, the male would snatch it from her to try his skill, 

 and usually with as little success. In this way the prey would 

 be passed back and forth, until it was crushed between the bills 

 of the two birds, or torn limb from limb. Some of these un- 

 equal contests between birds and insects are illustrated by the 

 photographs. 



When the male brought a moth miller and accidentally 

 dropped it close to the tent, he went after it like a flash, and to 

 place its security beyond doubt swallowed it himself. Again, 

 one of the birds while perched near by was seen to disgorge the 

 indigestible parts of its insect food, a common practice with 

 flycatchers, both old and young. 



I have added the foregoing details in order to show with what 

 harmony life at the new nesting site proceeds when once the 

 severed threads have been united. A knowledge of former 

 conditions seemed to have been completely effaced. The nest- 



