3o8 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



bright streak flashed across the ground glass, and the next instant the 

 male Redstart was bending over his eager children. How I longed to 

 reproduce the picture that I saw on the glass as he fed them in turn, 

 his wings quivering in his enthusiasm and his tail opening and shutting 

 like a fan. At no time did he appear afraid but he never became fa- 

 miliar. The female was rather timid at first and approached the nest 

 cautiously until we had been acquainted several days. Then she be- 

 came very confiding and was continually searching for food close by, a 

 number of times perching on my shoe while she carefully scrutinized 

 me to see if I meant harm. They had a very bright quartet of young- 

 sters and when they were a week old their curiosity was fully developed. 

 They had the faintest suspicion of feathers on them, and when their 

 parents were foraging, their bald heads would be hanging over the 

 edges of the nest in a seemingly lifeless manner, but by watching 

 closely it could be seen that their half open eyes took in everything 

 that was going on about them. That young birds are sometimes 

 naughty is shown by the illustration of the female attempting to brood 

 her young. vShe kept turning this way and that in the endeavor to keep 

 them all under her, but they would persist in poking their heads up to 

 see what was going on. The one on the right really looks as though 

 he were laughing at her vain attempts to control him. 



The nest which is plenty large enough for the full set of eggs and 

 the young in the early stage, is shown by the last photograph in this 

 series to be far too small for them as they grow older. We cannot but 

 pity the poor little fellow that is vainly trying to push his way up from 

 the bottom of the heap, but we can rest assured that when it comes his 

 turn to dine, even if he has not succeeded in forcing his way to a more 

 comfortable position, he will not be forgotten. At no time while I was 

 watching them, did I see the old birds feed them large insects and 

 moths such as many of the smaller birds frequently do. Their food 

 was made up entirely of small insects and various worms. 



PRAIRIE HEN. 



A. O- U. Xo. 305. (Tympanuchus anierioaiius-) 



RANGE. 



Common on the prairies throughout the Mississippi Valley. Form- 

 erly they ranged throughout eastern United States but they have been 

 gradually forced back to their present habitat. Their range is limited 

 on the north to Wisconsin and on the south to Texas and Louisiana. 



