Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
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5:54. (Temp. 74). Through the afternoon the same procedure was
followed.
October 19th.
No early morning singing was heard, but several loud calls.
A.M.
About 7:45 Greenie was in the nest, Brownie off to the south-east
sitting in a cypress tree 120 yards away. On being called, he ran
and flew to the glade making no comment of any kind while eating,
and departing silently for the nest, without being called. Greenie
them came for her share. The bird off duty seems to be ranging
farther for food now.
7:10 P.M. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred since last
entry. I was getting the impression that Brownie was taking shorter
shifts at the nest than his mate and showed signs of impatience
sooner while on the nest, but Greenie evened up matters this afternoon
by taking an hour or more off (I did not time it), during which she
remained in the vicinity of the glade, eating, digging and just
puttering around with some sub-singing. Strangely, Brownie did not
call for her at all, and she went back to the nest, seemingly at a
loss for something to do.
About 5:30 Brownie was in the nest and I watched to see if
there would be a change when Greenie returned. However, there was
not. Greenie was not at all secretive about her roosting place (Room
B). I stood almost directly below it as she approached (dressed
entirely in white). She walked by my feet, climbed the tree within
arm's reach and settled immediately for the night with no sign of
fear or furtiveness. This tree has twin trunks. It is really a
large shrub in size, about 15 feet high with a mean spread of perhaps
the same. Its canopy is dense. Room A (now the nest) is in the north
half, Room B (now Greenie's night roost) in the south half. The two
are about 6 or 8 feet apart and at about the same height from the ground
After G was settled other birds came in and were not driven away.