WITH BROWN PREDOMIXATIXG 305 



breast with light bro^vii. At first they crouclied far back 

 in terror, but when I put in my hand to pick up one the 

 others popped out faster than I could catch them. This 

 unexpected debut startled me and called the adult male, 

 who had evidently lingered in the neighborhood. He 

 was naturally much distressed and, without coming 

 nearer than fifty feet, lit on a conspicuous perch with 

 many restless turnings and flutterings. Finding that this 

 did not win me from my unfortunate proximity to his 

 brood, he slipped out of sight and began calling to the 

 young in a loud, liquid note more imperative than plain- 

 tive. I sat immovable as the rock behind me, and in 

 half an hour was rewarded by seeing both Solitaires 

 come near enough to be recognized without a glass and 

 feed a nestling who was crouching in a heap of stones, 

 thirty feet from the nest site. As the parents were so 

 much alike in form and color, I could not tell which one 

 came to him. The other disappeared behind the stones 

 and probably found the rest of the young to care for. 

 So long as I sat there neither of the adults came into 

 sight again ; and, putting back into the nest the young 

 Solitaire I had caught, I withdrew to a distance and hid. 

 More than two hours elapsed before either adult returned 

 to the locality, and then the female was seen slipping 

 silently to the nest. Her mate took up his guard on a 

 high bare tree and after a time tried to sing, but the 

 song lacked the joyous spontaneity of his usual outburst 

 and, cutting it short, he flew down near the old nesting 

 site. In a few moments he reappeared on the bare tree 

 and remained there singing when the shadows of evening 



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