204 
GOLD CRESTED WREN. 
yet would constantly feed them while they remained at the outside of 
the window : on the contrary, the female would feed them at the table 
at which I sat, and even when I held the nest in my hand, provided I 
remained motionless. But on moving- my head one day, while she was 
on the edge of the nest, which I held in my hand, she made a precipi- 
tate retreat, mistook the open part of the window, knocked herself 
against the glass, and laid breathless on the floor for some time.* How- 
ever, recovering a little, she made her escape, and in about an hour 
after I was agreeably surprised by her return, and she would afterwards 
frequently feed the young while I held the nest in my hand. The 
male bird constantly attended the female in her flight to and fro, but 
never ventured beyond the window-frame ; nor did he latterly ever 
appear with food in his hill. He never uttered any note but when the 
female was out of sight, and then only a small chirp. At first there 
were ten young in the nest, hut, probably for want of the male’s assist- 
ance in providing food, two died. The visits of the female were gene- 
rally repeated in the space of a minute and a half or two minutes, or, 
upon an average, thirty-six times in an hour ; and this continued full six- 
teen hours in a day, which, if equally divided between the eight young 
ones, each would receive seventy-two feeds in the day ; the whole amount- 
ing to 576. From examination of the food, which by accident now and 
then dropped into the nest, I judged from those weighed, that each feed 
was a quarter of a grain upon an average ; so that each young one was 
supplied with eighteen grains weight in a day ; and as the young 
birds weighed about seventy-seven grains at the time they began to 
perch, they consumed nearly their weight of food in four days at 
that time.^ I could always perceive by the animation of the young 
brood when the old one was coming ; probably some low note indi- 
cated her near approach, and in an instant every mouth was open 
to receive the insect morsel. But there appeared no regularity in the 
supply given by the parent bird : sometimes the same was fed two or 
three times successively ; and I generally observed that the strongest 
got most, being able to reach farthest, the old one delivering it to the 
mouth nearest to her, and after each feed she waited awhile to see 
if any muted. The lesser species of birds, who are so frequently fed, 
seldom or ever mute but immediately after they are fed, by which 
' It is probable the focal distance of such minute animals’ eyes is very near, and that 
large objects are not represented perfect on the retina; that they do not seem to see 
such distinctly is certain, unless in motion. 
^ This extraordinary consumption seems absolutely requisite in animals of such rapid 
growth. The old birds of this species weigh from eighty to ninety grains. 
