Development and Care of the Young 175 



required this attention more than food. In some cases the 

 chicks of the Great Herring Gull are not fed until two or three 

 hours after birth. The strong brooding instinct of the Flicker 

 will be noticed later. 



The Chestnut-sided Warbler, who is represented in many char- 

 acteristic atti- 

 tudes about 

 the nest, was a 

 most devoted 

 brooder for 

 days. She 

 would stick to 

 her charge until 

 driven off by 

 sheer force or by 

 hunger. I have 

 often seen her 

 drop down in 

 the grass, pick 

 up a morsel on 

 her o wn ac- 

 count , and be 

 back to the nest 

 in a fraction of 

 a second before 

 the insect was 

 fairly swal- 

 lowed. Again 

 she might leave 



the nest twenty times in the course of an hour to procure food 

 either for herself or her children. Her mate would often alight 

 above the nest, bend far down, and deliver the insects into the 

 mouth of the brooding hen, who would promptly hop up and 

 give every morsel to the young. 



This little warbler would sometimes sit well down in the nest, 

 and erect some of her feathers, and apparently innate the throat 

 so that the bird's head appeared as if swollen to twice its 



Fig. 106. Female Chestnut-sided Warble 

 brooding on a hot June day. 



