52 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 83. 



one of the, nestlings and then picked up one-half of the shell, 

 which she worked around in her bill, thus effecting its com- 

 minution. This part of the broken shell was then quickly 

 swallowed. Soon the male returned and perched on the edge 

 of the nest while the female in a similar manner broke up 

 the other half of the shell, after which both birds devoured 

 it. The parent birds then cleaned the nest by picking up and 

 eating the smaller portions of scattered egg shell. 



Marking the Young. 



There were three methods tried for marking the young, 

 but only the last one was successful. At about eleven o'clock 

 on July 3 the attempt was made to mark the young with 

 aniline dyes, but it seemed impossible to make them take 

 hold. Though it must be acknowledged that this plan may 

 not have been given a fair trial. Then again a little after one 

 o'clock on July 5, an effort was made to mark the nestlings 

 with colored adhesive papers, but these would not stick very 

 well to the downy skin of the birds, and when one did so the 

 female picked it oft" upon her return to the nest. On the 

 evening of July 6 the last method was tried, that of tying 

 different colored strings to the legs of the young. In this 

 way the largest bird was marked white, the next blue, and 

 the third in size and activity red. 



There are a few explanations which should be made at this 

 time. On July 4 one of the nestlings was lost from the nest 

 and cannot be accounted for, as the disappearance was not 

 observed. This occurred before the marking of the young, 

 and the absence of one would less likely be noticed. 



On July 7 the bush, in which the nest was located, was 

 strengthened by being tied to an upright driven into the 

 ground. 



In reading the records of the days following July 8 and 

 also the tables, it should be taken into consideration that the 

 proceedings were abnormal, as the male left the care of the 

 young entirely to the female. 



