58 The Wilson Bulletin— No. 83. 



employed the term brooding' in the sense of sheltering the 

 young from sun, wind or rain. 



The female while on the nest usually sat facing the blind, 

 but during rains and strong winds from the northwest she 

 would face in that direction, occasionally glancing back at 

 the blind. 



The female was more careful in brooding the young dur- 

 ing the first few days. She would stop for intervals through- 

 out the day, while feeding, and brood the young. Her way 

 of completely covering the brood was to fluff out the under 

 coverts against the rim of the nest and bring the wings 

 down, just inside, so as to effectually close the nest. As the 

 )^oung grew older and became larger, brooding also became 

 more difficult. She experienced great difficulty in covering 

 the young, for the nest was very much battered and mis- 

 shapen, making a larger area to cover. The young were 

 very active and there were times when the female would be 

 contentedly brooding, while covering only the head of one 

 nestling. 



The female had different brooding attitudes for the vary- 

 ing circumstances. For protection against the cold of early 

 morning she brooded in the manner described above, com- 

 pletely covering the young. Through the rains she brooded 

 in much the same way as for cold, sheltering the young, so 

 that after an unusually heavy downpour, the nest remained 

 perfectly dry inside. During the heat of midday she usually 

 stood in the nest with wings spread, shielding the young, but 

 without shutting off the circulation of the air. On the con- 

 trary, at times she gently flapped her wings, as if fanning 

 the young. During the strong winds she stood in the nest 

 with wings outstretched, and leaned in the direction of the 

 wind, so as to secure a delicate balance and at the same time 

 keep the young in the nest. 



Curves were plotted for the brooding period of each day 

 in an effort to determine the variability in intensity of brood- 

 ing throughout the day. But the results obtained were not 

 satisfactorv because of the different elements, such as rain. 



