206 THE CONDOR Vol. XVI dirty and stained by the damp stuff which had been used to form the bottom of the second nest. Our collection (that of J. & J. W. Mailliard) contained a set of five eggs of A. tricolor, taken by Walter E. Bryant years ago, and the writer's ambition was fired to find one himself, never having been so fortunate in several previous experiences with breeding colonies of this species. On this occasion success crowned his efforts, and when just about to give up the search, wet and tired after the examination of hundreds of nests, a five set was discovered. Fortunately it was in such state of incubation as to allow of its being saved, and as to leave no room for doubt about its being actually one set instead of a combination like the two just mentioned above. By the time incubation was completed in the majority of nests and vast numbers of young beaks were opening wide for needed nourishment the barley in the neighborhood was just reaching the pulpy stage, being "in the milk", as it is called, when the kernels of grain are much relished by the redwings on their own account and much prized as a food for the young. Hence a large amount of damage is done by these birds' when the grain is in this state, and this keeps up even when the grain becomes quite hard. But, while thousands' of the red- wings were visiting the barley fields, as many more were bringing in grass- hoppers, cutworms, caterpillars and various sorts of insects in various stages of growth, and probably the harm done to the grain is more than offset by the good work of destroying injurious pests of the insect world. A few adults were shot in the first week in May, at a time when some of the barley was in the most appreciated stage of development, to ascertain the
contents of the stomachs. It happened that those particular individuals, at
that time of day at least, had been more diligent in the matter of hunting in- sects than in robbing the barley fie]ds, for only two or three grains of barley were found in each stomach the contents of which consisted mostly of insects of several sorts (not determined), grasshoppers being largely in evidence. That, however, a great deal of barley was consumed was shown by the stripped heads found on the stalks, to say nothing of the visual evidence of the flights of birds to and from the grainfields. As the youngsters grew larger, leaving their nests and perching in the tules, the parents became buslet and buslet supplying food for the rapidly de- veloping appetites, evidently deeming it necessary to maintain a large propor- tion of insect life in the bill of fare, judging by the direction from which food was brought and by the action of the parents when collecting the food supplies.. When some nearby alfalfa fields happened to be irrigated great numbers of the adult birds arrived on the scene and gathered in quantities of fat grubs that were brought to light by the water, most certainly doing a beneficial act to the owners of the fields. After hunger fear seemed to be one of the first sensations developed in the young nestlings. So much was this the case that the youngsters, say a week old, would flop out of the nests on the approach of a human being and fall into the water. It was impossible to force one's way through the rules without making more or less noise, and the number of suicides would have been so great if an extended visit had been made to the nesting ground that the writer con- tented himself with investigation of the outer edges, only, during the nestling period, not wishing to be responsible for a lgrge and useless loss of life among the juvenile population. As the young left the nests and took to the tules their feeling of fear did not diminish, and they would flutter or scramble away so
