64 The Wilson Bujxetin — No. 83. 



tered several times ; after feeding- youn^, she again flew down 

 about in the bushes and even under the nest. 



" About 5 :'i2 p. m. the female flew near the dead bird with 

 a mosquitO'. 



" Male came into the bushes, no food left. 



" For a time parents approach nest, Trh.irp and twitter. 



" Again female flew near dead bird." 



Following the snake incident the female was much more 

 careful in approaching the nest, being nervous and very easily 

 frightened away by the slightest noise. The male stopped 

 feeding and left the entire care of the two remaining nest- 

 lings to the female. This action on the part of the male may 

 have been due to fear. He remained throughout the day in 

 an oak tree to the right of the nest. The two parent birds 

 occasionally called or sang to each other, while the male 

 came down from the tree at the warning call of the female, 

 usually to drive away some intruding bird. 



There was a certain stereotyped method of approach by 

 both the parent birds, which remained unchanged through- 

 out the nestling period. The female alighted in the weeds 

 at some little distance to the north of the nest and gradually 

 approached the nest by hopping from weed to weed. Thus 

 she concealed her actions from any passers by. She usually 

 stopped for a moment and inspected the young. The male 

 invariably came straight down from the oak tree to the right 

 and perched on the edge of the nest with his back or right 

 side to the blind. He fed in a hurry and left at once. This 

 made it difficult at times to identify the food or see which 

 nestling received it. 



During the first few days, the nestlings threw up their 

 heads, with bills open, both when the parents visited the 

 nest and when there was no observable stimulus. At this 

 time it seemed that all they lived for was food. After the 

 eyes had opened, they became more attentive to the things 

 happening around about them. 



It had been noticed that the young birds threw up their 

 heads, with bills open, when the parent birds reached the 



