56 The Wilson Buj.letin — No. 83. 



The time when feeding began in the morning" varied within 

 rather narrow Hmits. On one day it started at 4 :29 a. m., 

 and on another at 4:50 a. m. In the evening the earHest 

 final feeding visit was at 7 :56 p. m., except one rainy even- 

 ing, when the female started brooding at 7 :36. The latest 

 final feeding visit was at 8 :04 p. m. The average feeding 

 period per day was fifteen hours and thirty minutes. (See 

 Table L) 



Table III is prepared with the view of ascertaining whether 

 the parent birds followed any system of rotation in distrib- 

 ting food to the young. However, there were three facts 

 which prevented the collection of complete data, viz., a) the 

 )'oung birds were so small and delicate that they were not 

 marked until the nestling period was nearly half gone, b) the 

 early death of two of the young, c) and the unusual beha- 

 vior of the male after the snake incident. No plan could be 

 discovered which they seemed to follow. x\t one time one 

 nestling received the food as many as seventeen successive 

 visits ; at other times the feeding rotated from one to the 

 othei. 



TABLE III. 



Showing the distribution of the food to the different nestling 

 birds by the two parents. 



July 6. July 7. July 8. July 9. July 10. July 11. July 12. Total 





m. f. 



m. f. 



m. f. 



f. 



f. 



f. 



f. 





Red 



2 3 



51 50 



37 51 



118 



170 



238 



33 



753 



White . . . 



2 3 



48 83 



43 45 











224 



Blue 



3 4 



46 58 



38 63 



146 



51 







409 



Total 



7 10 



150> 192^ 



118 159 



206' 



221 



238 



33 



1397 



Total for 



















m. & f. 



















per day. . . 



17 



345= 



277 



266' 



221 



238 



33 



1400 



^ Error in total, due to fact that it was impossible to determine 

 which nestling received the feeding. 



^ And on one occasion both parents were present at the same mo- 

 ment and all three nestling were fed. but without determining hy 

 which parent, thus making the total 345. 



