26 TEE A UDB ON eB Ua eel 
and down, and often at the nest it seems more or less in the way. 
Sometimes it is held at a right angle to the body as the bird stands 
on the edge of the nest (Fig. 2). 
Two days later, on the 31st, I again visited the nest and remained 
for three hours during which period the young, now seven days old, 
were fed once every five minutes. The nest was kept scrupulously clean 
(Fig. 3), the parents sometimes eating the fecal sacs, sometimes car- 
rying them away. Up to this time the young had evinced no sign of 
fear at my presence. On my next visit three days later, August 3, 
when they were ten days old, I was more than fortunate in finding 
them asleep and in securing a picture just as they woke up (Fig. 4), 
for at the first visit of one of the parents they all left at once and 
made off into the grass. With difficulty I managed to find one and 
secure its picture by placing it in the nest again, where it remained 
only for a moment before again making off. All three young were 
nicely feathered, there being no natal down on their heads (as is so 
often the case in other young birds at this age), whilst the only feather 
sheaths that had apparently not fully split open were a few covering 
the base of the primary feathers. 
As already mentioned, the nest was in a very clean condition. 
Its foundation was composed of 280 coarse grass stems from 2 to 15 
inches in length, whilst the inside lining consisted of 500 finer grasses 
ranging in length from 2 to 10 inches. In addition, the very center 
of the nest contained 150 pieces of plant fibre 1 to 5 inches in length 
as fine as the very finest hair. Its dimensions were as follows: diam- 
eter—outside 5 inches, inside 24% inches; depth—outside 3 inches, 
inside 14% inches. Few people, I am sure, realize the amount of labor 
involved in the construction of a nest, and it is for this reason that I 
carefully counted the component parts of the above nest, having as 
a matter of fact paid some little attention to this matter for the past 
few years with regard to the nests of other species. 
In summing up this short study we find: (1) that the incubation 
period occupied twelve days; (2) that the young left the nest ten days 
later, this period possibly being shortened a trifle by my appearance 
at the nest; (3) that both parents took part in the feeding of the young 
and cleaning of the nest, although I am fairly sure that the bulk of 
this work was undertaken by the female, if not that entirely of clean- 
ing the nest; (4) that the average length of time of feeding the young 
for the three periods of three hours each was once in every eight min- 
utes. The food throughout consisted for the most part of soft mate- 
rials, such as grubs, worms and caterpillars. 
4073 Tupper St., Montreal, Canada. 
