Nest Life of the Catbird 183 



■excreta rarely allowed to touch the nest but the parents were 

 continually picking parasites from it and the young. On 

 several occasions the female in nest C probed vigorously in 

 the bottom until the nest and the tree in which it was located 

 vibrated violently. The shells, even to the smallest piece, 

 were carefully removed. 



From nest A, the excreta was removed 73 times while it 

 was under observation. 67 sacs were removed from the bird 

 last fed. The excreta was devoured 54 times and carried 

 away 19 times. The place of depositing the sacs was not 

 discovered, as it was impossible to follow the movements of 

 the parents in the dense shrubbery. On one occasion while 

 "both parents were at the nest, one of them took a sac from 

 one of the young and started to devour it. The other parent 

 seized it and tried to pull it from the first one. After sev- 

 eral vigorous jerks the sac broke and each one devoured the 

 piece retained. 



In nest C, as in A, the excreta was rarely allowed to touch 

 the nest but was taken directly from the young. During this 

 study the excreta was removed 125 times, 88 times from the 

 nestling last fed, 20 times from some other one and in 1? 

 instances it was not determined. 



TABLE V. 



Showing Method of Excreta Disposal. Nest C. 



Date Devoured Carried Away Total 



July 21 3 .. 3 



July 22 20 .. 20 



July 23 16 .. 16 



July 24 20 .. 20 



July 25 12 .. 12 



July 26 13 4 17 



July 27 4 6 10 



July 28 4 8 12 



July 29 1 9 10 



July 30 2 3 5 



Total 95 30 125 



