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Bird - Lore 



I came near missing the final departure from the nest. As it was, two of 

 the young had already left. The mother bird was watching the rest, which 

 were clambering in the branches of the home tree. On my approach they 

 tried to escape, but I caught them and posed them upon a twig for their 

 portrait. The male parent came for a moment at the call of his mate, but 

 soon left again, probably to keep an eye on the youngsters that had got away. 



The mother bird tried every inducement and allurement to coax her 

 young from the perch upon which I had placed them, and frequently one or 

 the other of them would attempt to fly to her, and had to be replaced. 



I never before heard the female Grosbeak sing. This mother bird, how- 

 ever, among other endearing calls, actually sang short, warbling snatches 

 that were very sweet. At times she came with a worm in her bill and sat on 

 a bush near by to coax the young away. She would come nearer and nearer, 

 and almost but not quite place the morsel in the open mouth of a young one. 

 Then, as the hungry little bird reached for it, she would draw back quickly, 

 with generally the result that it would topple off the twig. Then the 

 mother ran before it and tried to hide it in the tall grass. 



I succeeded in getting one very good photograph of the mother bird thus 

 trying to entice her young away. After that I rewarded her maternal anxiety 

 by letting her call her children away one by one into the sheltering bushes. 



CHESTNUT- SIDED WARBLER AND NEST 

 Photographed from nature by Albert Morgan, Wetherfield, Conn. 



