300 LAND BIRDS 



was carefully cut in one side of the nest and a cautious 

 peep taken. A wriggling mass of pinkish heads, wings, 

 and legs lay cuddled in the downiest of feather beds. 

 They seemed even smaller than the young humming- 

 birds, and were certainly less than an inch long. Each 

 little head was triangular in shape, with a mere yellow 

 ridge at the point for a bill, and skin-covered knobs for 

 eyes. The slit in the nest we carefully sewed shut 

 again. Before we had gone three yards the parents 

 were there, and the male had gone inside to the nest- 

 lings. A careful watch proved that for the first four 

 days neither of the parents brought visible food in the 

 bill, and it is fair to record them as feeding by regurgita- 

 tion for that length of time at least. (See Foreword.) 



On the sixth day the young Bush-tits were covered 

 with a hairlike grayish white down, and had quadrupled 

 in size. This was the last observation of that family 

 I was able to make. Meanwhile several other broods of 

 Bush-tits had flown and were being cared for in the 

 neighboring shrubbery by the adults, although seem- 

 ing well able to feed themselves. An old nest that 

 I secured measured ten inches in length, four and a 

 half in diameter at the bottom, and the doorway was 

 just the size of a dime; a nickle was too large to pass 

 through it. 



The call-note of the Bush-tit is commonly described as 

 "scritt, scritt," very weak and thin. Aside from this, 

 the male gives voice to a conversational warble, quite 

 in keeping with the diminutive size of the bird. This 



