The Black-headed Grosbeak 
179 
Early in the morning he showed the quality of his singing; later in the 
day it often lacked finish. The tones sounded hard to get out, as if he 
were practising — just running over the notes of an air that hung dim 
in his memory. 
We had a good chance to study and photograph a pair of Black- 
headed Grosbeaks that nested near our home, and were soon on so 
intimate terms with both birds that we could watch them at close range. 
Nature has given the Grosbeak a large and powerful bill, to crack seeds 
and hard kernels. It seemed to me this would be an inconvenience when 
it came to feeding its children; if it was the parents did not show it. 
Photographed by Herman T. Bohlman. 
The mother would cock her head to one side so that her baby could 
easily grasp the morsel, and it was all so quickly done that only the 
camera’s eye could catch the way she did it. She slipped her bill clear 
into the youngster’s mouth, and he took the bite as hurriedly as if he 
were afraid the mother would change her mind and give it to the next 
baby. 
The parents fed their nestlings a diet of both fruit and insects. Once 
I saw the father distribute a whole mouthful of green measuring- worms. 
Next he visited a garden down the hillside, brought one raspberry 
in his bill, and coughed up three more. 
The three young Grosbeaks left the nest on the morning of July 6. 
They were not able to fly more than a few feet, but they knew how to 
