126 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVIII 
food to the young. On this trip the bird uttered a single tsip, this being the 
only time I heard either parent utter a note in going to or leaving the nest 
while feeding the young. 
June 29 I inspected the nest once during the afternoon. All three young 
were sleeping, facing in the same direction. Touching the branches did not 
cause the birds to open their mouths as they had previously done. They 
merely opened their eyes, now recognizing, I suppose, that this movement 
was not the same as that produced by the approach of the parent birds with 
food. Failing to get the birds to open their mouths by this method, I 
endeavored to imitate the tsip of the adult warblers. Two of the young 
immediately responded by throwing back their heads and gaping to be fed. 
The sixth day showed juvenal feathers appearing on the lateral tracts, 
and tail feathers just beginning to grow out. On the seventh day, June 30, 
the wing feathers had broken through the sheaths for about one-half an inch. 
The birds’ heads were well covered with feathers, but the sheaths still 
adhered at the bases. The contour feathers were in a similar condition. The 
tail feathers did not show any further development. 
As the young Tolmies grew, the mother showed increasing uneasiness 
at the presence of any one near the nest. Until this day she had hopped about 
in the brush just out of sight when disturbed. Now, however, she dropped to 
the ground within three feet, and tried to distract attention from the young 
by slowly raising and lowering her wings, and continually calling in an 
anxious manner. She also showed growing wariness when feeding the 
nestlings. On previous occasions I had been able to stand within ten feet while 
she fed the young, but now she would not go near. With me at a distance 
of fifteen feet even, she would hop uneasily about. The young, possibly reflect- 
ing the attitude of the parent bird, or perhaps merely because they were get- 
ting older, began to show signs of fear, and “froze” when the nest was 
approached or the overhanging branches touched. A further sign of develop- 
ment appeared on the seventh' day. For the first time the young birds 
responded to the parent’s approach with food, by uttering a faint hissing noise. 
Morning inspection on July 1, the eighth day after hatching of the first 
two eggs, disclosed the contour feathers and wing feathers well out of the 
sheaths, while most of the down had disappeared. The feathers of the upper 
surface were gray while those of the under surface were grayish-buff. Increas- 
ing anxiety on the part of the mother Tolmie made it wiser to keep out of 
sight as long as she was in the neighborhood. In the evening the male Tolmie 
Warbler was seen at the nest for the third time. The few times that I saw 
him there leads me to the conclusion that the male assists very little in the 
duties of rearing the family. 
July 2, the ninth day after hatching, the little signs of nervousness which 
had been exhibited by the young the day before now developed into real fear. 
They actually cowered when the nest was approached, and partly closed their 
eyes. The mother Tolmie, too, became exceedingly distressed by our presence. 
She almost crawled about on the ground, with wings partly spread, and 
uttering a repeated tsip. Early in the afternoon T noted that the wing feathers 
were entirely fledged on two of the birds, and almost entirely so on the third. 
The same afternoon, a little later, some one announced that the young Tolmies 
had left the nest ; and both parents were heard calling anxiously and excitedly. 
Only two of the young were seen in the shrubbery, and a look at the nest dis- 
