50 American Birds 



bantlings. The mother had enticed one down the slope 

 to the hazel bush near the creek. I watched her for two 

 hours before I heard the soft tour-a-lee of the young- 

 ster. He perched on my finger and I brought him back 

 to the nest. Another we found down in the thimbleberry 

 bushes, which, with the third up in the maple sapling over 

 the nest, seemed to be in the keeping of the father. 



Nature has given the grosbeak a large and powerful 

 bill to crack seeds and hard kernels, but it seemed to me 

 this would be rather an inconvenience when it came to 

 feeding children. If it was, the parents did not show it. 

 The mother always cocked her head to one side so that 

 her baby could easily grasp the morsel, and it was all so 

 quickly done that only the camera's eye could catch the 

 way she did it. She slipped her bill clear into the young- 

 ster's mouth, and he took the bite as hurriedly as if he 

 were afraid the mother would change her mind and give 

 it to the next baby. 



After watching the grosbeak family all day, we put 

 the children in a little isolated clump of bushes, late in the 

 afternoon, and when we paid our visit early the next morn- 

 ing they were still there, but perched well up in the top 

 limbs. We had at last reached almost a " bird-in-the- 

 hand " acquaintance with the parents. We could watch 

 them at close range and they didn't seem to care a snap. 

 The mother wore a plain-colored dress in comparison with 

 her husband's almost gaudy suit. When he turned his 

 head he showed a black silk hat that was enough to dis- 

 tinguish any bird, but I, for my part, would hardly have 

 called his wife Mrs. Black-headed Grosbeak had I not 

 known they were married. 



