414 LAND BIRDS 



scolded from morning until night in loud "chacks," 

 watching all who came and went in the vicinity. 



Worms, slugs, black beetles, wingless crickets, grass- 

 hoppers, and dragonflies were given to the young at the 

 rate of sixteen in twenty minutes, distributed among the 

 four, — not so large an average as in the case of most 

 young birds, but there was but one parent to forage. 

 For the first three days, at least, the food was first 

 swallowed by the adult and afterwards given to the 

 young by regurgitation, but after that they were fed on 

 the fresh insects. 



The nestlings were a soft pinky gray when they first 

 broke their shells, and the second day developed thin 

 mouse-colored down on head and back. In five days 

 their eyes opened, and the lines of submerged pinfeathers 

 were plainly visible. On the twelfth day the little 

 feathered ends had burst through the sheaths. And 

 now began an alarming process of stretching and pecking 

 and wriggling, — alarming because in this case it seemed 

 as though the nestlings must be crowded out into the 

 cold water below. But none of them ever was so 

 crowded, and after nearly three weeks in the nest they 

 flew out into some low bushes on the shore. Here they 

 were fed by both parents for some days longer, being 

 coaxed into the woods near by and cared for devotedly 

 until they had learned to forage for themselves. 



As soon as the young are able to take the trip the 

 flocks of Brewer Blackbirds pass on to other feeding 

 grounds. In August and September they are found in 

 the high Sierra Nevada mountains and also on the ocean 



