THE BULLFINCH 85 



it all to her. Evidently the young did not want 

 much food yet, for she swallowed it all. So far 

 as I could see and judge, all the food given by 

 the cock to the hen, and later that brought by 

 the pair for their young, consisted of buds and 

 other greenstuff, but as it was in a half-digested 

 state, and it was by no means easy to see what 

 passed from one to the other, I could not be 

 absolutely sure it was only buds. 



Another fifteen minutes passed, when the male 

 reappeared, again fed his brooding mate, and 

 hurried off once more. This time he was away 

 for half an hour, it being 2.30 when the devoted 

 little fellow returned. This time, the hen, having 

 taken a little food from him, rose, stepped back 

 to the edge of the nest, and left the young ones 

 exposed to view. The cock, bending over them 

 carefully, pushed a little food down the throat 

 of each in turn, and then turned his attention 

 to matters sanitary, taking the excrement from 

 the tiny mites, swallowing some of it, and passing 

 some to the hen, which she likewise swallowed ! 

 This, I may add, is the course commonly taken 

 by nest-building birds while their nestlings are 

 young, at first they swallow the excrement, but 

 as the young get older the parents carry it off and 

 drop it at a distance. 



Everything having been seen to, the cock dis- 

 appeared once more, and again was absent for 

 quite half an hour. At last the hen got tired of 

 waiting for him to come back, she got very restless, 

 she kept looking this way and that, and finally 



