54 
NATURE STUDY. 
was about twenty feet from the ground, and fastened it into 
another crotch which I had spliced on a twenty-foot pole. 
The young were then about a week old. I leaned the pole 
against the branches of the tree, so that the nest came just 
below the old site. The Chebec soon appeared, and after 
twice visiting the old crotch, she found the nest and fed 
the young. During the morning, by sawing off pieces 
from the lower end of the pole, I lowered the nest to a 
height of four and a half feet from the ground. The Che¬ 
bec adjusted herself each time and fed the young constant¬ 
ly, though several people were sitting within ten or twelve 
feet of her. 
It became evident after a little observation that the fe¬ 
male was bringing up this second brood without any aid 
from the male. There was never more than one old bird 
about the nest, and her hunting ground was so circum¬ 
scribed that I could generally follow all her movements be¬ 
tween her visits to the nest. When, at rare intervals, a 
male Chebec appeared in the trees, there was an angry en¬ 
counter between the two and the intruder was driven off. 
The industry of this little female was something extra¬ 
ordinary. She did not bring a load of food, like the Cedar 
birds, but apparently made a separate trip to the nest with 
every insect that she caught. The interval between her 
visits was often less than a minute, and during one period 
of fifteen minutes she fed the young ones twelve times. 
Many of these insects were picked up from the grass, over 
which she stooped and hovered. Others she deftly 
snatched from the trunks of trees ; still others from the 
leaves. The young, being fed so little at a time, voided 
their excrement with much less regularity than the young 
Cedar birds, nor did the Chebec ever swallow it at the nest, 
but flew off with it and dropped it at some distance. 
During the following night there came up a heavy thun- 
