101 



supports (Plate XIII, fig. 2). If the nest is approached, all 

 leave, but otherwise the weaker remain until the eleventh day 

 (Plate XIV, fig. 1), when all scatter to the vegetation in the 

 immediate vicinity. They then remain in this neighborhood 

 for at least ten days, even after the parents have ceased caring 

 for them and have started a second brood. 



Herrick also gives us the following information concerning 

 the care of the young: ''In the space of four hours on the first 

 day. . . fifty-four visits were made and the young were fed 

 forty times. The female brooded her young over an hour, 

 fed them twenty-nine times, and cleaned the nest thirteen 

 times. The male made eleven visits, attending to sanitary 

 matters but twice. . . . On the following day, ... in the 

 course of nearly three and one-half hours, fifty-five visits were 

 made, and the young were fed collectively or singly forty-three 

 times. . . . The male bird served food eleven times and 

 attended to sanitary matters once. In the course of forty-two 

 minutes the first young bird to leave the nest was fed eight 

 times, seven times by the mother and once by the father." 



Observations on the care of the young in this study are yet 

 incomplete. Just as all of the work of incubation is performed 

 by the female, so the care of the nest and young rests largely 

 with this sex. Although the male always shows great concern 

 when the nest is approached, he has seldom been seen to assist 

 in the actual care of the young. (There is evidently consider- 

 able individual variation in this respect.) Previous to the 

 hatching of the eggs, the male is more bold in the presence of 

 danger, but after hatching the instinct becomes much more 

 pronounced in the female. 



The food of the young consists entirely of animal matter, 

 so far as observed here, although Judd (1900) found one per 

 cent of weed seeds in the food of nestlings examined by him. 

 It does not vary materially with the age of the young, but 

 more especially with the insects predominant in the marsh 

 and therefore most easily secured at the time. The principal 

 insects eaten are May flies, caddis flies, and lepidopterous 

 larvae. Generally three or four insects are brought each time, 

 and one delivered to each young. This is not always the case, 



