20 



Wild Birds. 



young who for a long time had been exercising his wing- and leg-muscles by climbing to 

 the rim of the pouch, took his first flight, making a neighboring tree. Not long after, a 



second bird climbed out of the sack 

 and was off, lured away by its parents. 

 The third and last bird left a little 

 later, and towards evening the young 

 were calling from trees down the 

 hillside. 



On the fifth day of July a nest of 



|y three young Blackbirds (No. 2 of the 



Xdfif* 8 *^ TheRedwin, '^le), aged five days, 

 JU& m , lfi Blackbird. was found on the edge 



* ^ of what was once an 



alder swamp, close to the town and 

 the " Cove " made by the Winnipi- 

 seogee River in Northfield. It was 

 fixed to several slender stems of 

 Spiraea, amid a dense tangle of 

 Cephalthus, wild roses, and purple 

 milkweeds. The situation was so 

 attractive and offered such fine op- 

 portunities for studying these birds 

 that, notwithstanding the water and 

 mud, I determined to make careful 

 preparations. A space four feet 

 square was at once cleared of bushes 

 at one side of the nest. In order 

 to sky the birds, the nesting twigs 

 were slightly raised, but none of 

 these were severed or otherwise dis- 

 placed. 



On the ninth of July I built a raft 

 or platform on the cleared area, and 



painted it green, possibly an unnecessary precaution. When weighted with the observer and 

 his apparatus, the flooring was barely clear of the water. On the following day, the tent was 

 pitched over this stranded raft and guyed to the bushes, the tent poles having been 

 previously lengthened to suit the depth of mud and water. Everything was ready for 

 observations at half-past nine o'clock. At first the birds fluttered around the nest chuck- 

 ing and whistling incessantly, but in less than an hour the warble of the male was 

 heard, which is a sure sign of growing confidence. Then both birds went off for food, 

 returned, reconnoitred the tent and nest, and after precisely one hour and twenty-three 

 minutes from the beginning of observations the female came and fed her clamoring young. 

 Again she was off and back three times in rapid succession. Three minutes later she was 

 brooding, and remained on the nest thirteen minutes. Leaving it again, she examined 

 the tent anew, then brooded ten minutes more. A little later the young were fed and the 

 nest cleaned with great care. 



Fig. 14. Baltimore Oriole inspecting young after having fed 

 them. 



