IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
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was made up of the various kind of moths. On the other hand no fruit 
was fed to the nestlings. At Sioux City in 1912 the mayflies were not 
noted among the forms fed. This was due to the absence of any con- 
siderable body of water in the vicinity of the nest. The moths were also 
absent. Maybeetles, cutworms, and grasshoppers were the most abundant 
forms and they constituted over 60% of the total. If some other of the 
species consumed by the brown thrasher should become plentiful and 
easily obtained it would undoubtedly be found to furnish a large per- 
centage of the food. Data from other localities would furnish a basis 
for an interesting study of the effect of varying food supplies on the 
nestling food of the species. 
Table II will show the distribution of the food among the nestlings. 
TABLE II. 
Parent feeding. , A. B. C. D. Total. 
Male 22 21 30 22 95 
Female 27 24 19 15 85 
Total 49 45 49 37 180* 
The apparent discrepancy between the 169 visits and the 185 feedings 
is explained by the fact that on 16 visits the parents fed two of the 
nestlings making 16 more feedings than there were visits to the nest. 
On 13 of these occasions the male did the double feeding and the female 
did it 3 times. In the case of five of the feedings the nestling receiving 
the food was not identified, leaving 180 recorded feedings or an average 
of 45 to each nestling. Actually A was fed 49 times, B 45 times, C 49 
times, and D 37 times. A curious fact noted in the two studies in regard 
to the average feeding was that in both broods one of the nestlings 
received considerably below the average amount of food while the other 
three received very close to it or slightly above it. In both instances 
the one receiving less than the average amount of food during the period 
of observation was very noticeably smaller and 1 weaker than the others. 
There was no regular sequence of feeding or any approach to it. At 
times one of the nestlings would be fed three or four times in quick 
succession and then might be neglected for an hour or more. 
In the sanitation of the nest the same cleanliness was observed as in 
the previous study. Only once during the day did any of the excreta 
touch the nest and that occurred when one of the packages of excreta 
*Five times the nestling fed was not identified. Three of these feedings were by 
the male and two by the female, making the actual number of feedings 185 ; 98 by 
the male and 87 by the female. 
