Some Records of the Feeding of Nestlings. 69 



the young hatched, and during the last three days- that they 

 spent in the nest — a total of 35 hours and 31 minutes. The 

 female was less shy and was more attentive to the young, the 

 male more shy and would leave the nest immediately after 

 feeding. He had the habit of perching upon a limb near the 

 nest and singing after each feeding. Neither bird made any 

 sound on approaching the nest. The female did the most of 

 the brooding of the young, spending the greater part of the 

 time on the nest for the first three days. During this time 

 the male brought the food and delivered it to the female, who 

 delivered it to the young. 



The male made 158 visits, the female 119 visits to the nest 

 during the period of observation, or 277 by both birds. The 

 male carried away 14 excreta, the female 31, or 75 by both 

 birds. The excreta was sometimes eaten, so^metimes fastened 

 to the limb of a tree. 300 pieces of food were brought. Of 

 these 178 were Geometrid larvae, 4(3 grasshoppers, 11 bugs, 

 3 moths, 31 unknown, and 31 times nothing was brought. 

 There were an average of eight feedings an hour. This is 

 an average of one feeding every 30 minutes for each of the 

 four young. There was no regularity in the time between 

 visits to the nest at any time of day. The duration of absence 

 seemed to be determined wholly by the ability of the birds 

 to find food. They ranged rather farther than the Field 

 Sparrows did, but seemed to find the bulk of the food in the 

 grass. 



House Wren (Troglodytes acdon acdon). \ 



This nest was located when the birds first carried nest ma- 

 terial into the woodpecker's hole in a sycamore post in the 

 south-east corner of the orchard. The nest was near the top 

 of the post, about four feet from the ground. The hole was 

 on the north side of the post. A barbed wire was fastened 

 to the post just below the nest hole, and below the barbed 

 wire the fence was of woven wire. A corn field with the 

 ears in full silk occupied the ground just south of the nest, 

 the five-acre orchard of apple trees north-west, while two 



