The Home of the Great Crest 431 



Miscellaneous Actions of the Parents. 



There was a certain dignity about every action of the pa- 

 rents which could not fail to impress the observer. They 

 never made any outcry as we approached the nest, but flew 

 silently away, often no farther than the other side of the 

 nest tree, and remained watching us. Even when the blind 

 was erected there was no apparent excitement, but only a 

 careful watch kept on it until they decided to accept its pres- 

 ence. This was in decided contrast to the actions of such 

 birds as the Catbird and Red-winged Blackbird, which have 

 the habit of arousing the entire neighborhood when a blind 

 is erected at their nests. 



When the nestlings were taken out of the nest on July 13 

 they made a great fuss and the parents answered them for 

 a few moments. This noise soon ceased and the adults, par- 

 ticularly the female, made a desperate attack on our party, 

 flying about our heads and at our faces. Finally, even this 

 stopped, and the female alighted on a branch about fifteen 

 feet away and kept silent watch of the proceedings. 



iWe were much interested in the feeding of the nestlings 

 while they were on the ground. On the afternoon of July 9 

 all three of them were out of the nest and the parents fed 

 them repeatedly. Here we again notice that the adults never 

 hopped or walked, but after feeding one flew to the next 

 one, even if it was only a few inches away. After the young 

 were placed back in the nest, both parents often flew into 

 the grass in search of them. 



The calls were few in number. We occasionally heard the 

 usual whistle, sometimes given loud and clear, and at other 

 times barely audible in the blind. The only other sound 

 which we heard from them was a series of low notes used in 

 the early part of the nestling period to get the nestlings to 

 open their mouths. It is impossible for me to describe it, but 

 it somewhat resembled the noise produced by drawing a rusty 

 nail from a board. 



When angry the Great Crest elevated his crest, and when 



