M THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [6:3-Mar., mo 



close to the nest preparatory to returning the nestlings, the 

 mother appeared and brooded for some time upon the empty 

 nest, utterly indifferent to the presence of the young in the 

 bowl. 



The June brood was under observation throughout the en- 

 tire sixth and seventh days (June 24 and 25). All-day obser- 

 vation was resumed on the thirteenth day, as in the case of the 

 May brood, but the young left the nest during the morning of 

 that day, making comparison impossible for the later period. 

 In the main, the essential points in the two sets of data are in 

 harmony, although the fact that the male was found dead on the 

 ground below the nest after a storm (cause unknown), before 

 all-day observations were begun, prevented any comparison of 

 the activities of the two sexes. This circumstance, however, 

 gave opportunity to note what adjustment was effected by the 

 widow under the pressure of hunger of the nestlings. She 

 came with food on the sixth day 98 times, and on the seventh 

 day 127 times, as against 66 and 85 for both parents on the 

 corresponding days for the May brood. In both cases the num- 

 ber of young was 3. 



In the June brood the period of most active feeding was 

 from 4 to 8 p. m., with a less pronounced maximum in the 

 early morning, as in the May data. On the basis of number 

 of pieces of food, the results are similar, the morning and even- 

 ing morsels greatly outnumbering those fed at midday. 



The young from each nest were followed after their first 

 flight — which was witnessed in both cases — and their experien- 

 ces on the "first day out" were noted. The struggle for exist- 

 ence became a very real affair to the passive observer, and the 



records are not without mortality tables. 



* * * 



Note. — Since this paper was presented, two additional 

 broods have been under observation, one of them throughout 

 the entire period from hatching to leaving the nest, with com- 

 plete data. The results of these more complete observations 

 have not yet been published. 



