AMERIOAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



135 



ing tO;, or feeding his mate. The following extract from my journal of May 

 31, shows how hard he worked: 



"From 1 :50 p. m. to 3:50 p. m. he fed as follows: In first twenty minutes, 

 four times ; next twenty-five minutes, fed three times ; during the next hour 

 and fifteen minutes he rested. Then he began feeding again, and fed until 

 nightfall." 



When the young were hatched, the birds still showed this spirit of devo- 

 tion towards them. One evening at 9 :00 o'clock, our family were sitting on 

 the porch and for some reason a lamp was burning. All of a sudden, the 

 female wren flew toward her nest, out of the darkness, and was blinded by 

 the light. She perched on the window shutters near bj^, and we saw to our 

 astonishment that she was still feeding her young at this hour, having a 

 long worm in her mouth. I promptly blew out the light and she flew away 



Photo by C. A. Reed. 

 Thrasher About to Feed Her Little Ones With A Large Spider. 



