The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak 



361 



They hung ah around the nest, and while waiting for the pa- 

 rents to recoA'-er from their fright and commence feeding the 

 nestlings, I noticed that they began feeding on these seeds. 

 They seized an ament in their beaks and by a rapid motion 

 of the mandibles shelled off the outer scales and cotton, re- 

 taining the seeds in their mouth. Suddenly the female, who 

 had been gradually coming nearer the nest, shelled some of 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 

 Pig. II. — 5 Shading the Young. 



the seeds, hopped to the nest and fed one of the nestlings. 

 This instantly raised the question, was that nestling fed by 

 regurgitation? A close watch was kept for a repetition of 

 the performance to see if any action of swallowing could be 

 detected or any throat action, isuch as one might expect in 

 regurgitative feeding;, be noted. During the observations wil- 

 low seeds were brought in this way eleven times and the seeds 

 of an anemone (Anemone canadensis) once. We actually 

 saw them pick these seeds and bring them to the nest. When 

 the)^ were feeding- we many times saw them pick the seeds 

 and swallow them and were close enoug^h to readily detect 

 this motion. The sis^nificant thing- was that we could not de- 



