Page:Condor6(2).djvu/10

3 6 THE CONDOR VoL. VI a nest, also placed high in a clump of willow and blooming elder, within three yards of the first, the presumption in my mind was strong that it was built by the same pair. When the mother proved to be a brave bird, and stood my gaze steadily, and when, as last year, this brood was the first to leave the nest, and took the same course through the bushes, my conviction amounted to certainty. Another pair last year had chosen a hazel bush overhanging a little path leading to the spring. Of these I wrote in my notebook that they were very wild and that the female refused to go on the nest as long asI was in sight, although I went to a distance and kept very quiet. Her mate went on at last, but he, too, was a timid bird. This year the same nest was in place, for slight and apparently care- lessly built as they are, they will outlast ?nany a more elaborate nest, and endure the storms of winter remarkably well. In the very next bush, and at about the same height was another nest, with a pair whose actions were exactly like these of last year. When I looked at the nest, although I did not touch it, the female raised such an outcry that she drew about her a pair of tanagers, a handsome male spurred towbee, a pair of Macgillivray warblers, and a Cassin vireo, who had a great deal of advice to offer in his loud, preaching tones. The male grosbeak sat- isfied himself with taking up a post of observation on a high twig, and driving away another male, whose sympathy was evidently offensive to the husband. I have noticed that each pair regarded as their private property a circle of perhaps a hundred yards about their nest, and resented the appearance in that ground of any of their own race. They were never far enough away from another nest- however, to be out of ear-shot, and one male seemed to vie with another in musical display, at leisure moments. Another pair had managed to conceal their nest from me last year, but I knew its whereabouts in the thick woods, and had noted the song as having a peculiar refrain of four descending notes. This year I traced the male by this song, and happened to sit down at the very foot of a young madrone in which the nest was placed.: I found this pair most engaging and fearless, and although the young were nearly fledged, I felt repaid for the time that I gave to watching them. found that the male was much the bolder bird, although the female, after starting back several times at sight of me, overcame her fear and delivered the mouthful of green caterpillars which she was carrying. I found that they fed in perfectly regu- lar rotation, at intervals of about twelve minutes, and that the one bird remained on guard while the other was seeking food. They spent this time differently, however. The male always took up a position on a tree near by and sang till his wife returned. Once after a prolonged absence, he grew silent and anxious, and finally went off to look for her. When she was left in charge, she either sat silently in the same tree or on the edge of the nest, seeming to have a soothing effect on the young, who slept as long as she was there. She would not stir and waken them for any movement of mine. The different influence of the two parents was marked. When the father was heard returning with his loud, cheery song, which did not seem to be interfered with by his big mouthful of wriggling worms, every youngster was alert and standing on tiptoe to get first taste. The father always brought more food than the mother, and the fledglin, gs seemed inspired by his bustling ways to be adventurous. One stretched his wings and crawled up to the edge of the frail nest, and I could see that it would not be long before he would fly. Only the father attended to the cleansing of the nest as long as I watched them. The father's singing so constantly near the nest, com- bined with his generous feeding, would certainly make an impression on the