. Bird lore . rring of the curtain drew them quickly to the shelf in eager expectation. As soon as there were seven mouths to feed, instead of two, there enteredin a more compelling force than hunger to overcome their fear. Before the littleones were a week old, both birds, though still a little nervous, were feedingfrom my hand at the open window, and during the second week they grew quitefearless. If the worms were missing on the shelf, they spied the dishes in theroom, and soon they established a regular habit of flying in to help themselves. During the preceding season the mother-bird had
. Bird lore . rring of the curtain drew them quickly to the shelf in eager expectation. As soon as there were seven mouths to feed, instead of two, there enteredin a more compelling force than hunger to overcome their fear. Before the littleones were a week old, both birds, though still a little nervous, were feedingfrom my hand at the open window, and during the second week they grew quitefearless. If the worms were missing on the shelf, they spied the dishes in theroom, and soon they established a regular habit of flying in to help themselves. During the preceding season the mother-bird had seemed to bear the chiefburden of providing food and keeping the nest clean, but this year several watchesconfirmed the impression that the male was equally active. The removal ofthe excretal sacs was performed apparently with no regularity. During an hourswatching, on one particular day, not a single sac was carried out. On the nextday, during a period of equal length, each parent once removed one. In another. FEMALE BLUEBIRD FEEDING \(JU_\G. JUNE _i 66 Bird - Lore period of thirty-eight minutes the male carried out one sac, the female irregularity with which this function was seemingly performed raises thequestion of whether the sacs are ever eaten by the parents, a question whichmight easily be answered if the nest-house were made with a window in oneside. As early as the third day after the little birds were hatched, they began togive their nestling-notes, a series of syllables like chee-ee-ee-ee, chee-ee-ee-ee,chee-ee-ee-ee, repeated as often as the old birds came with food. These noteswere faint at first, but grew louder every day, and they were the only ones untilthe time drew near for flight. On the afternoon of the day before their debut,a faint sound of tiirwee was once heard within the nest, and twice a little head
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectorn
