YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 551 



the female, who seemed to do all the weaving, start 

 out for more, and " straightway forgetting what manner 

 of man he was," end in one of these curious song 

 flights. Usually, however, he came with strips of bark; 

 or leaves and looked on with conversational chucks that 

 I guessed rather than heard, as most of my observing of 

 him was done through the field glass. After the begin- 

 ning of incubation, which lasted fourteen days, he paid 

 little attention to either the mate or the nest during the 

 middle of the day, but frequented a thicket fifty ya,rd8 

 away, where he whistled and sang from dawn until dark, 

 but as soon as the eggs had hatched he was all devotion. 

 At this time it was possible to watch from a concealed 

 position, and to keep a record of his visits to the nest 

 with food. On one day, which seemed to be a fair 

 average, when the young were eight days old, they were 

 fed twenty times between five and six a. m., eight times 

 between nine and ten a. m., eleven times between 

 three and four p. m., and seventeen times between five 

 and six p.m. For the first four days there was no 

 visible food in the bill of the adult, and the feeding 

 seemed to be by regurgitation. After that, parts of 

 insects could be seen protruding from his bill, and were 

 given to the young in a fresh state. Beetles, grass- 

 hoppers, and butterflies were all in the dietary, and were 

 brought indiscriminately ; but hairless caterpillars seemed 

 to be the favorite food. The adults are said to eat 

 berries, but I saw none brought to the nest for the 

 young. 



