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July, 1919 NESTING HAUNT OF THE MERRILL SONG SPARROW 151 The young are not lacking in appetite and at the slightest provocation up go open mouths, each large enough to accommodate almost any size of bug (fig. 27). While the surroundings teem with insect life it seems an endless task for the mother bird to satisfy the hungry brood (fig. 28). A greater portion of the food is gleaned on or near the ground. I have noted a female Song Sparrow scratching among the dead leaves in search of food similar in manner to a do- mestic fowl. - Until the young birds are fairly strong on the ?vjng a greater part of their time is spent among the clumps of sedge and in the dense underbrush where they can hide effectually on short notice. The second nests of the season, Fig. 31: FEMALE MERRILL SONG SP?RRO? O1? SAME NEST AS SHO?N IN PRECEDING PICTURE; PHOTOGRAPHED JUNE 15, 1918. placed in spirea, rosebushes, occasional willows and clumps of sedge, are more compact in form and made of whatever species of sedge or grass that happens to be near, lined with finer mate- rial and a few strands of horsehair; eggs four or five in number, usually four. The date of the second nesting depends somewhat on the date and success of the first brood. The second set of eggs can be looked for any time from the first until the third week in June, and usually by the second week in July the second brood are out of the nest and learning to care for themselves. A female flushed from her nest in a clump of sedge (Carex rostrata) (fig. 29) near the water's edge, June 15, disclosed an incomplete set of two eggs showing the greatest variance in coloration (fig. 30). I re- turned several days later expecting to find a larger set, but no more were added. This little mother bird was very attentive to her nest and its two treasures. When first disturbed she would dash to the left into some clumps of sedge and spirea bushes, thews across the outlet w]?ere she would remain for a short time and then come hop- ping back from pad to pad. She would then approach under cover as near as possible to the clump sheltering the nest, make a short run, hop up over the fallen blades, and settle down on her nest (fig. 31). After being disturbed a number of times she would dash away as at first into the sedge but would re- turn almost immediately and resume her task of incubating, seemingly uncon- cerned with the many dangers that seemed to beset her on all sides. A pair of