GREAT CEESTED FLYCATCHER 145 



camera, although they are brave and are given to the 

 habit of pulling out the tail feathers of their rivals and 

 tearing them to pieces. 



In the nest referred to were enormous numbers of 

 chicken feathers, as though the birds had visited the 

 barnyards in that vicinity. There were, also, large 

 patches of chicken skin with feathers attached, as if 

 the birds had utilized them as substitutes for snake skin. 



It is claimed by some naturalists that a snake never 

 goes near a piece of its own hide. The Crested Fly- 

 catcher, of all birds, most frequently utilizes a piece of 

 snake skin in building, yet the nest is placed high in holes 

 in trees too large for any snake to climb. The fact seem- 

 ingly would negative the theory of the skins ' being used 

 as protection against snakes, but its use may be due to 

 a preconceived idea on the part of the birds, or to inher- 

 ited tradition. It would be just as well to reason that 

 a Wood Thrush universally adds a piece of newspaper 

 to her nest to keep away the editors and newsboys. 



Each time the parents came with food, they perched 

 on a nearby limb and silently viewed the camera, then 

 flew to the nest entrance and quickly entered the box to 

 feed the young. The box was full of loose feathers; a 

 carpet-sweeper or a firm breeze across the entrance would 

 surely have aspirated many of them. I could see the long 

 necks, the big ugly heads and large eyes of the young 

 birds as they were waved to and fro among the feathers. 

 In this nest one of the very young birds became ensnared 

 in the coils of a hair from a horse's tail and was found 

 dead, hanging from the entrance to the nest, evidently 

 thrown there by the old birds as it was too young to have 

 escaped unassisted. 



I considered myself very lucky in having the oppor- 

 tunity so easily to get a good picture of this living bird. 

 The picture shows the temper of the bird, as it brooks 

 no interference with its home affairs. 



