The Yellow-throat 39 



with a harsher note of authority, " T'see-here ! " He 

 dropped to a quieter, "Quit! Quit!" when he ap- 

 proached the nest, as if he were afraid of waking the 

 babies. 



One day when I spent all afternoon about the nest, 

 my note-book read as follows: " Two of the youngsters 

 were out of the nest. Set up a perch for them, focused 

 the camera at one o'clock, and hid in the bushes. In five 

 minutes the mother came with a big spider, which she held 

 carefully, so as not to puncture the body and lose the 

 substance. The father was right at her heels. Both fed 

 and went away on a hunt together inside of two minutes. 

 They returned in five minutes with green cutworms. 

 While the mother was feeding one of the bantlings, he 

 fluttered with such delight that he fell from the perch in 

 trying to swallow his morsel. Both parents stayed about 

 watching the young for ten minutes. After they departed, 

 the mother returned in three minutes, but had no food. 

 She hopped about the limbs over my head, watching her 

 children with an anxious eye, till she heard the call of her 

 mate, when she left. Inside of eight minutes they were 

 both back again with caterpillars and a moth. The mother 

 fed, but the father hopped about the bush a moment or so 

 and swallowed the mouthful he had, wiping his bill across 

 the limb with a satisfied air. In four minutes the father 

 was there again with a fat grub, which he gave to one of 

 the children. It was such a huge mouthful that it took a 

 little push to start it down. He hopped up on the camera, 

 stretched his wings, and preened himself till he heard his 

 wife." 



The next day as I sat in the shade watching the two 



