432 



The Wilson Bulletin— No. 93 



in pursuit of other birds snapped his mandibles together 

 loudly and rapidly. 



On some occasions the food given the nestling was too 

 large for it to swallow. When this happened the parent re- 

 moved the morsel and quickly crushed it bv snapping the 

 mandibles together on it. 



The parents never entered the nest together. Several times 

 the female was at the nest opening when the male appeared 

 on a limb above her. As he started to drop to the nest open- 



The nestlings at the age of 8 days, showing the develop- 

 ment of the wing quills at this time. 



ing she flew away, allowed him to feed the nestlings, and 

 returned to feed her morsel when he left. Once she was in 

 the nest feeding when he appeared on the edge. He put his 

 head into the opening and " screeched," at which she darted 

 out and permitted him to enter. 



The old rotten tree seemed to furnish a strong attraction 

 to the woodpeckers and chickadees on account of the many 

 larvae under the bark. A Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, 



