Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
to them.
June 18th. At 7:20 A.M. Greenie was in the nest. On going to the
glade, the three young birds ran out of the brush to my feet. Brownie
was not in evidence. The young birds, Instead of opening their mouths
to have the food put down their throats, picked it off of the spatula,
but did not seem very hungry. I went to see if I could stir up Brownie
to try to induce her to come to the glade with me and get a little more
action, however, she appeared voluntarily and lent her assistance;
but the young ones showed little enthusiasm for her ministrations,
having evidently had enough. About 8:30 I went to the glade again.
Two of the youngsters came at once, the third was practicing his "song"
out of sight nearby, but came later. One of them is lighter in color
than the others and one is larger; but I have not been able to determine definitely whether the light one is the large one, as they
move about so rapidly. Their bills are definitely curved, as they
have been for some time, but the radius of curvature is the same at
all points as far as can be seen, i.e. their bills are arcs of circles-
roughly--and show no tendency to hook at the ends, as yet. Their
tails seem to approach adult proportions more rapidly than their bills.
They have all of the mannerisms of their parents. They have never
been clamorous feeders and for the most part are silent. They dig,
bathe, "do sun-fits", preen, pick up twigs, acorns and other loose
objects and also the crumbs dropped when being fed.
8:30 P.M. The young have remained in the glade all day. Brownie still
comes and feeds them when off duty at the nest.
(The second Wren-Tit's nest definitely located today. They have been
scolding me at that point for a long time, but no search was made. It
is in one of the low branches of an oak forming the S.E. enclosure
of the glade, about three feet from the ground. There are four eggs,
Julio says, but I have not seen them, as there is a bird on the nest
each time I go there, and they do not fly).