The Warbler and His Ways 133 



nearest got a knock on the ear that sent him bawling, 

 while his brother gulped down a fat spider. 



Soon after one of the bantlings hopped out on the 

 limb, and the gray mother rewarded him with a mouth- 

 ful that fairly made his eyes bulge. On her return she 

 did not forget the hungry, more timid fledgling in the nest. 



Again I tried the experiment of having the mother 

 light between her clamoring children. First the right 

 one received a toothsome morsel, notwithstanding the im- 

 patient exclamations of the chick on the left. Soon after 

 the hungry bairn on the left got a juicy bite, in spite 

 of the loud appeals from the right. 



"This way I'll fool the mother," I thought, as I 

 perched both bantlings on a small limb where they could 

 be fed only from the right. This looked good to the 

 first little chick, for he seemed to reason that when he 

 opened his mouth his mother could not resist his plead- 

 ings. He reasoned rightly the first time. On the second 

 appearance of his mother position did not count for much; 

 it was his brother's turn. 



Later in the day I watched the gray warbler coax 

 her two children from the fir into the thick protecting 

 bushes below. With the keen sense of bird motherhood 

 she led them on, and they followed out into the world 

 of bird experience. 



THE WOOD WARBLER FAMILY 



This is one of the largest families of North American birds. The 

 Warblers are five inches or less in length. They are all migratory; they 

 live almost entirely on insects. The bill is narrow and, like the feet, 



