102 



Wild Birds. 



Fig. 96. Female Chestnut-sided Warbler bristling to keep 

 cool while brooding on a hot June day. 



bon, Cedar-birds will sometimes gorge 

 themselves to such excess with berries as 

 to be unable to fly, and a number of 

 wounded birds of this species which he 

 kept in a cage ate of apples until suffocated. 

 When opened they were found to be filled 

 to the mouth. 



The automatic response given by the 

 young is the signal awaited by the old bird, 

 though often with impatience. The insect 

 is watched after being placed in a respon- 

 sive throat, until it disappears. Should it 

 stick at the gullet it is withdrawn and re- 

 placed time and again, or given a gentle 

 pull, until it is safely down. Sometimes 

 the insect is bruised against a twig, beaten 

 into a pulp or crushed and torn asunder 

 between the bills of the parent birds before 

 it can be safely delivered. As has already 

 been seen, many birds utter a peculiar note 

 as a special stimulus to the young. At 

 such times even the silent Cedar-bird finds 

 a voice and gives an impatient cheet ! If 

 this call passes unheeded it often becomes 

 extremely shrill, especially in Kingbirds, 

 with whom failure on part of their young 

 to quick response seems to be peculiarly 

 exasperating. 



While watching a Kingbird's nest 

 from the tent, a moth miller was once 

 brought in by the male. It was passed to 

 each one of the young in turn, but even 

 under the spur of his shrill chitter, they 

 were unresponsive, and he devoured the 

 prey himself. This sharp economy is often 

 practiced at the nest, and I have even seen 

 the leg of a grasshopper picked up and 

 eaten by an old bird. Not a crumb is 

 allowed to go to waste. If an insect gets 

 away it is usually pursued and immedi- 

 ately snapped up. Once, however, I saw a 

 female Kingbird fooled by a fly who owed 

 its life to its small size. As she opened 

 her bill in her attempt to land it safely 



Fig. 97. The same bird in the more common brooding attitude. in an Open throat, the fly darted off. The 



