Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American wood warblers, Part 1 (of 2)
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- North America; Passeriformes; Wood warblers
On June 15, at 2.45 p. m., the young were able to raise their heads
slightly and a fluffy bit of down had appeared about the head, also a
dark stripe along the back bone. The female appeared, accompanied by the
male, and fed the young with small green larvae--such as may be found
on the under-side of oak and chestnut leaves--and then shielded the
callow young from the hot rays of the sun.
On June 16, at 6.30 p. m., when the young were three days old, a downy
puff appeared between the shoulders, wing quills being dark. The
strongest bird had the eyes partly open and the mouth wide open for
food.
On June 18, at 7 p. m., the heads and bodies were no longer
flesh-colored but were well enough covered to appear dark. The eyes were
open. At a _cluck_ from me their mouths flew open. Both parents fed them
with green-colored larvae. When the male rested a moment on a brier
above the nest, the female flew down and drove him away, fed the young,
re-appearing with excrement in her beak, which was carried in an
opposite direction from the regular approach via maple bough and poplar
sapling. The male fed the young from a mouthful of very minute larvae or
eggs, which were gathered from the silken nests in the unfolding leaves
of a nearby poplar; after this (7.30 p. m.) the female covered the young
for the night.
On June 20, at from 6.50 to 7.35 p. m., the young had been seven days in
the nest. They were well feathered and of a yellowish-green cast, the
short tails being tipped with yellow. The parents were more suspicious.
The female came to the maple bough with something in her beak and flew
down to the briers and back again several times before she dropped to
the edge of the nest and fed her young. The male appeared immediately
but swallowed a green grub himself upon discovery of me twenty-five feet
away. The female came again in five minutes with a brownish object in
her bill, but appeared more timid and refused to drop to the nest until
the male set her an example of courage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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